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MEMOIRS
or
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,
COMPRISING P(MlTIOICS OP
HIS DIARY FROM 1795 TO 1848/
EDITED BY
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.
VOL.VL
pbiladslpbia:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1875.
'\
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429921
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, ^X
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII. (Coniinued.)
PAGE
The Department of State — Second Term ...'... 3
CHAPTER XIV.
The Presidency 518
m
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MEMOIRS
OP
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
VOL. VI. — I
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MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
CHAPTER XIII. {Continued)
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE — SECOND TERM.
June 2d, 1822. — General D. Parker came in, and detained me
at an interview of more than three hours. Parker was brought
in as Chief Clerk of the War Department by Dr. Eustis. He
continued in that office through the period while General Arm-
strong was Secretary at War, and afterwards while Mr. Monroe
was the Secretary. He was afterwards appointed Adjutant-
and Inspector-General, with the rank of Brigadier-General. At
the reduction of the army last year that office was abolished,
and Parker was made Paymaster- General in the room of Tow-
son, who was suddenly turned into a colonel of artillery. But,
the Senate having at their late session rejected the nomination
of Towson as colonel of artillery, the President nominated him
to his old post of Paymaster-General, whereby Parker was re-
moved from it without any other provision being made for him.
Both the President and the Secretary of War have reasons for
disliking, and, as he evidently thinks, for dreading Parker, and
the very day that he was worried out of office by the nomina-
tion of Towson to his place, Crawford wrote him a note (6th
May), unsolicited on his part, offering him a clerkship of a
thousand dollars salary in the Treasury Department, which he
declined. He showed me this note of Crawford's,^ and said
he understood its meaning. It was saying to him : This is all
I have to give, and this is at your disposal. This avidity of
3
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4 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June.
Crawford to secure Parker in his interest is easily accounted
for. He knows that great use may be made of him against
both the President and Calhoun. Parker is deeply exasperated
at the treatment he has received, and says he has been so long
out of all business other than the public service, that he knows
not what will become of him. But he manifests no passion ;
and he kept me during almost the whole of this day telling
me, with an air and tone of indifference, what he knew, and
intimating what he further could tell. He said he had had a
very long interview with the President, in which he had ap-
peared to be excessively sore upon an attack on him in' the
New York Philosophical and Literary Repository in an anony-
mous paper written by Armstrong. Parker asked me if I had
seen it.
I had, and told him there was a charge in it against Mr.
Monroe, in relation to the campaign of 1813, which, in my
opinion, amounted to nothing less than treason. Parker said
there was in that charge a reference to evidence in his pos-
session; that as to Armstrong's inferences from which the
charge resulted, he had nothing to do with them. The same
facts were compatible with a course of conduct on the part
of Mr. Monroe, correct or otherwise. But the facts were as
Armstrong had stated them. Neither Armstrong nor Mr.
Monroe possessed the documents which would show the fllll
and detailed state of the case; but he himself did possess
them very complete. He then gave me an account of his own
situation between Mr. Monroe and Mr. Armstrong in 1813
and 1814. They were rival candidates for the succession to
the Presidency. But when he observed this the other day to
the President, he stopped him, and said, no; he was not a
candidate for the Presidency. He had thought he had not
due weight in the councils of Mr. Madison, and had supposed
the cause of it was his being considered as a candidate for
the Presidency. He had, therefore, to remove this cause, re-
quested three of his friends in the House of Representatives,
Mr. Pleasants, Mr. H. Nelson, and Mr. Gholson, to inform the
Republican members of Congress that he was not a candidate.
And as by some accident they did not give this notice, he had
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1 822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 5
requested, in the ensuing year, 1 8 14, Mr. Lacock and Mr.
Roberts, the Senators from Pennsylvania, to give it; which
they had done. But in 1815, after the conclusion of the peace,
and when the same difficulties no longer existed, he had, at
the solicitation of his friends, consented to be considered as
a candidate. Of this, however, Parker said he had known
nothing at the time. In August, 18 13, Armstrong, being Secre-
tary of War, had left the city and gone to the frontiers, where
he remained until the next January, long after the session of
Congress had commenced. Mr. Madison, the President, had
gone during the summer into Virginia. Parker's instructions,
as Chief Clerk of the War Department, were to consult the
President and the Secretary of War by letter when it could
be done; and in cases of emergency, when time could not be
lost, to consult verbally the Secretary of State. Mr. Monroe,
however, became possessed of all the military correspondence
of the campaign. Mr. Madison returned to the city in October,
and Parker called on him in the evening. He desired Parker
to inform the Secretary of State that he wished to see him
the next morning. Parker called accordingly at Mr. Monroe's
house, and left word there, he not being at home, that the
President wished to see him. But Mr. Monroe early the next
morning left the city and went to Loudoun, whence he did not
return for several days. Mr. Madison then went himself to the
Department of State, and, directing all the papers of the mili-
tary correspondence to be brought to him, ordered the whole
of them to be sent over to the War Department. He was more
in a passion than Parker ever saw him at any other period of
his life, and gave it very distinctly to be understood that he
thought that Mr. Monroe had been meddling with the affairs
of the War Department more than was proper. It was to this
event that the paper in the Philosophical and Literary Reposi-
tory referred, and Mr. Monroe, Parker said, had intimated to
him the other day that he should confer a new office upon
him only on condition that he would give some written declara-
tion to discredit Armstrong's statement in the Repository. It
had altogether to him the appearance of proposing a bargain ;
and yet Mr. Monroe had always known his determination to
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6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June.
take no part in the controversies between him and Armstrong.
When, after Armstrong's removal, in 1814, Mr. Monroe took
the War Department, Parker soon perceived in him a reserve
and distrust which ought not to subsist between the head
of a Department and its Chief Clerk. He had then candidly
exposed his feelings to President Madison, and told him that
his general impressions with regard to Armstrong's adminis-
tration of the War Department having been favorable, Mr.
Monroe might naturally feel some reserve and want of con-
fidence in him. He was willing, therefore, to make way for
any other person to come into the Department in his place.
The office of Inspector-General, with the rank of a Brigadier-
General, was then offered him, and he had accepted it. Then
the army had been reduced ; and he had been prevailed upon
to consent to be transferred to the Pay Department ; and now
Towson was re-appointed Paymaster-General, and he was dis-
placed. He had been with Mr. Calhoun, who had told him
that he was perfectly satisfied with him and his conduct, but
had intimated to him that the committee of the Senate had
been prejudiced against him. But upon Parker's showing
decisive proofs to the contrary, by the signature of the Chair-
man of the committee himself, Calhoun then represented that
it was the President who was prejudiced against Parker, and
had said that if he should give him a new place it would have
the appearance as if he were afraid of him.
Calhoun's anxiety to make Parker believe that any other
person than himself was the cause of his not receiving a new
appointment sounds oddly to me, who knew from the Presi-
dent himself that he had determined, upon a complaint of Cal-
houn that Parker had treated him ill, to remove Parker and
appoint Joseph L. Smith to his place, even if Towson had been
confirmed in his appointment as colonel of artillery. I said
nothing about this to Parker, but he appeared to understand
Calhoun entirely. He said that afler Calhoun had avowedly
taken Gibson as a witness to an inquisitional scrutiny about
what he had said of his reports, it was in vain for him to talk
of being satisfied with him or his friend. Parker said that he
should now go to Massachusetts, and in the course of the
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l822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 7
summer endeavor to make some arrangements for settling in
some business either at Boston or at Philadelphia, but he was
determined to come and spend the next winter at Washington
and see how things would then be managed. He said Mr.
Calhoun was very sanguine in his expectations of succeeding
to the Presidency, and believed he had a majority of Congress
in his favor. And among the rest of his converts was General
Scott, who was now gone to Richmond to ascertain whether
by resigning his commission in the army he can obtain an
immediate election to the Legislature of Virginia and then into
the next Congress. He was in that case to be one of Mr.
Calhoun's champions. And he was the author of a paper in
the National Intelligencer attacking the majority of the Senate
for their proceedings in the case of the rejected nominations.
He said Scott had taken great pains to persuade him that
Calhoun was friendly to him, and had several times repeated
to him Mr. Calhoun had said to him how much he esteemed
General Parker, and how fully satisfied he was with his conduct
— all which, Parker said, he fully understood.
I said I believed that Mr. Calhoun was too sanguine in his
calculations of success as a candidate for the next Presidency.
There were in Congress three parties — one for Mr. Crawford,
one for Mr. Clay, and one for Mr. Calhoun. They embraced
indeed almost the whole. But the party for Mr. Crawford was
the strongest, and that of Mr. Calhoun the weakest, of the three.
And I had little doubt that the parties of Crawford and Clay
would finally coalesce together. Parker said that he had heard
Mr. Clay would come again, not only into the next Congress,
but probably even to the next session of this Congress.
I said I doubted whether the Cabinet, as it is called, of Mr.
Monroe would continue entire through the next session of
Congress. Mr. Crawford or Mr. Calhoun, and most probably
the latter, would be compelled to resign. Very probably the
case might be my* own. For the attacks upon me at the late
session of Congress had been from masked batteries, but they
had been of the most deadly character, and, as they imputed
to me as a crime that which I believed to be the greatest ser-
vice I had rendered my country, I could not possibly foresee
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8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
what the next charge against me would be. All I knew was,
that it became me to be prepared for my political decease at
a moment's warning.
Parker said that General Scott had told him he had read
Russell's letter and my remarks upon it with Mr. Hay, and
that they agreed in the opinion that I had the best of the
argument. He said also that Tench Ringgold, the Marshal,
had told him that the President had sent for him and asked
him to make search among his (the President's) private papers
for Russell's letter — telling him that I had noticed a passage
in the duplicate and expressed a belief that it could not have
been written at Paris at the time that it was dated. He said
the President spoke of me at the same time in terms of great
respect and esteem. Parker thought I might therefore rely
upon the support of the President ; but I told him I must stand
upon my own support or not at all. The President had enough
to do to support the Secretary of War. He had already brought
himself into collision with both Houses of Congress by sup-
porting him. The President had little personal influence in
Congress. He was now no longer the centre of hopes and
expectations. He was independent of all. and had no lures
for retainers or baits for ambition to hold out. Mr. Calhoun's
friends had countenanced Russell's attack upon me, though Cal-
houn himself had disclaimed it; but not a friend of mine, unless
it were Eustis, had countenanced the attacks upon Calhoun, and
Eustis had certainly not acted in concert with me. Parker said
that if Eustis had been as strong as he was ten years ago he
would have broken down Calhoun at the last session of Con-
gress, and that he might yet do it at the next. The management
of the War Department had been inefficient and extravagant,
which was very susceptible of demonstration, and the intrigues
of General Brown were sufficiently known — particularly with
Colonel Atkinson. He, being a Georgian, had made them
known at the time to Crawford, and Crawford had authorized
a friend of Parker's to tell him from him that there was an
intrigue for turning him out of office. Parker told me further
that most of the late attacks upon Calhoun in the Washington
City Gazette were written by Richards, once a captain in the
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l822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, g
army, and now an expectant of crumbs from the Treasury. I
know Crawford has been taking pains to get an office for this
man, against whom I have once or twice warned the President.
Parker added that Child wrote the pieces in the Gazette against
the National Intelligencer; that Asbury Dickens, one of the
Clerks in the Treasury, had been called upon by Vandeventer
to say whether he was the author of some of the pieces against
the Mix contracts, and had denied being so.
This communication from General Parker has been altogether
voluntary on his part.
3d. Cabinet meeting at noon — full. The President sub-
mitted for consideration some letters from the island of Porto
Rico, giving notice of several privateers fitted and fitting out
from thence for the purpose, as they state, of capturing the
vessels of all nations trading to the ports of the revolutionary
party. The questions were, whether a naval force should be
stationed to cruise in the Mona passage, and generally in the
West India seas, with instructions to protect our vessels, and
what the purport of those instructions should be. It appeared
by one of the letters that several captures had already been
made by the privateers, and one American vessel tried upon
some petty charge of having a few articles of cargo not included
in the manifest from St. Thomas. It was proved to have been
an omission, not of the master of the vessel, but of the custom-
house at St. Thomas. The Judge acquitted the vessel. Upon
which the captain of the privateer told the Judge that if he
liberated the vessel he (the privateersman) would take her again
when she should sail, and would carry her into Porto Cabello.
Upon which she was again seized, and condemned to pay one-
third part of the costs ; from which sentence the American
captain appealed. The Consul who gives this account observes
that if they should condemn for breaches of their revenue laws
vessels captured by privateers, no vessel will escape ; no regard
whatever being had for those laws by any of the custom-house
officers.
Mr. Crawford and Mr. Thompson expressed doubts whether
instructions could be given to protect vessels against capture
for the breach of revenue laws anywhere. I said it was evident
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lO MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUIiVCY ADAMS. [June,
that in this case the charge of infraction of the revenue laws
had been a mere pretence. The capture had been by a
privateer. When carried into port, the privateersman, of course,
took every possible ground to procure the condemnation of
the vessel, and, if he could not allege the laws of war, would
adduce the laws of revenue. But privateers are not fitted out
to protect the revenue laws, nor was the vessel in this case
going to Porto Rico. Privateersmen, it was well known, were
among the most lawless of mankind. These privateers from
Porto Rico evidently belonged to that system of piratical
depredation of which the West India seas have for several
years been the scene. I thought, therefore, that the instruc-
tions to the commanders of our armed vessels ought to be
general, to protect our commerce, and not to suffer any of our
merchant vessels to be captured unless in a very clear case
that they were liable to capture. But the great object was to
have the armed vessels there. The sight of their flag and of
their guns would give more protection to the trade and save
more vessels from capture than any instructions.
It was finally determined that instructions should be given
generally to protect the trade, and that several of the public
vessels should be ordered to visit the Mona passage occa-
sionally, and to cruise in the neighboring regions.
The next question was about the sum of money to be ap-
plied for the negotiation of a treaty with the Cherokee Indians,
to obtain cessions of lands for the State of Georgia and indem-
nities for claims of citizens of Georgia for property stolen from
them. This brought up the question again upon the allowance
of interest on the award of the Commissioner on the claims of
citizens of Georgia against the Creek Indians, and Mr. Craw-
ford immediately assumed in the broadest terms that if interest
should not be allowed it would be a refusal merely arbitrary ;
that the amount of the claims being admitted by the Com-
missioner, interest upon it was due of course, and to refuse it
would be an act merely of will, and not of justice.
Crawford was a Georgian, and was this day quite alone in
his opinion, the evidence upon which the Commissioner ad-
mitted the claims being not only all ex parte, but such as in
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. n
no Court of Justice in the world would be admitted to estab-
lish a claim to the value of a half a dollar. The articles lost
were negroes, horses, and cattle; many of them lost nearly-
half a century since; all perishable articles; specific restitution
being the only thing stipulated, for which the United States
have engaged to make indemnity; no proof having bee'n fur-
nished that any of the individual articles were existing at the
time of the engagement to restore them, and the whole being
unquestionably valued in the award at more than double their
real worth.
Mr. Wirt said that Uncle Sam would fare in this case as he
did with most of his dealings — claims admitted without proof,
estimated at double their value, and then interest for half a
century upon the whole amount of the claim.
I observed that the compensation would amount in most of
the cases to about six times the value of the loss. I added
that, from the excessive valuation of the articles, I had no
doubt that each claimant had, in fixing his estimate, taken into
the account his damages consequential to the loss, as well as
the value of the article. I believed the ninety thousand dollars
admitted by the Commissioner would amply repay all the loss
actually sustained. Perfect justice to every individual it was
impossible to do, from the nature of the case. Some would
receive more, and some must receive less, than they were
entitled to, and, unfortunately, the honest and conscientious,
who had valued their losses at their real worth, would have
less than entire indemnity, and those who had most exag-
gerated would be most profusely paid. But this could not
be helped. Justice, on the whole, would as nearly be done as
was practicable.
Mr. Thompson repeated, as his opinion, that interest ought
not to be allowed; with which Mr. Calhoun concurred. Cal-
houn said, however, that if interest should be allowed, the
award must be sent back to the Commissioner for a re-exami-
nation of the claims upon more rigorous principles of proof
and of estimation.
I thought the award ought not to be sent back to the Com-
missioner. That would only make a double labor, probably
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12 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
to come to the same result — with more dissatisfaction to the
claimants, and no better prospects for the public. The whole
of the award should be allowed, and I had no doubt would be
full indemnity for the whole of the loss. Crawford made little
or no reply, but examined the book of the awards, said he
knew personally most of the claimants, and declared the valua-
tion of the articles in almost every case to be at more than
double what could have been their real value at the time of the
loss. There were some cases, however, in which they were
not overvalued. But, he said, he had always believed that
the whole loss did not exceed in value fifty thousand dollars.
The President appeared to be much embarrassed in coming
to a decision, and said it would certainly give dissatisfaction
to the claimants if interest should not be allowed, and to the
public if it should. Upon which I observed that in allowing
the award of the Commissioner a full written statement should
be presented, to be laid before Congress, showing the great
liberality with which evidence had been admitted to prove the
losses, and the excessive valuation at which they had been
estimated, and setting forth the reasons upon which the allow-
ance of interest had been refused. I believed this would be
satisfactory to Congress and to the nation, and, if the claimants
should press their demand for interest. Congress might make
provision for the allowance of it. In the proposed treaty with
the Cherokees, the question was at what sum the Commis-
sioners should be limited as that which must not be exceeded
in the engagement of the United States to assume the payment
of similar losses. The sum in the Creek treaty was limited at
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and Mr. Crawford pro-
posed that the same sum should be the limitation in the Chero-
kee treaty, though he admitted that the losses by Cherokee
depredations had not been probably one-fifth part in value so
great as those by the Creeks.
I observed that a limitation of a million, to cover an amount
unascertained but known not to exceed a thousand dollars,
would be a warning to all concerned to swell as much as
possible the real sum to be allowed. I believed the limitation
in the Creek treaty had been much too high, and a principal
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 13
cause both of the profuse allowances of the award and of the
further claims of interest.
The President postponed his determination upon the whole
matter.
7th. Mr. Canning paid me one of his long two or three hours*
visits, at which he introduced himself by showing me a letter
from Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of Canada, inform-
ing him that Samuel H. Wilcocke had been discharged from
prison and had left Montreal for the United States. I told Mr.
Canning that I was very glad he had been released, though not
much gratified at having him as a visitor in the United States.
He spoke also of the recognition of the South American
Governments, and intimated that, as no Ministers were sent to
these Governments, the recognition of them on our part was
not complete. He was evidently anxious to ascertain what we
had done and were about to do in this respect ; but I did not
think proper to gratify his curiosity.
Another subject upon which he spoke was the new instruc-
tions which he had received to resume the negotiation con-
cerning the slave-trade. He asked me if I had been informed
by Mr. Rush that it was the intention of the British Govern-
ment to renew the application for admitting the mutual right
of search and capture. I said I had, and should be ready to
receive any new proposals that he might make, adding, by way
of a joke in earnest, that I hoped he would not press them
much in hot weather. He spoke of the report of the com-
mittee of the House of Representatives in Congress in favor
of the right of search, and intimated that there were other
members of the Administration less averse to it than I was.
I assured him that he was mistaken, as there was no diversity
of opinion in the Administration concerning it. He hinted that
some, or one df them, had spoken otherwise of it to himself
— which is not impossible ; but I told him, if they had, it was
only by the complaisance of conversation, avoiding to come to
a direct issue of opinion.
He said he had understood me to say that I never would
sign a treaty agreeing to the principle of a mutual search ; but,
as he had considered it merely as a strong expression of my
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14 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
individual opinion, he had not communicated it to his Govern-
ment in a dispatch which might have been laid before Parlia-
ment. I told him that I had no doubt I did say so — not with
an expectation that it would be communicated in a dispatch,
but merely to make known to him in the most explicit manner
my impressions on the subject. I had no objection, however,
on my own account, to its being known to Parliament. My
individual opinion was of very little consequence, as, by the
course of events, in less than three years there will be a total
change of the Administration in this country; but I did not
think there was one member of the present Administration
more willing than I was to agree to the principle of search.
loth. General D. Parker and Major I. Roberdeau were here
this morning. Parker told me that he proposed going to-
morrow or the next day for Boston, and he wished while there
to collect some facts concerning my political career. He said
Dr. Watkins had requested him to collect them with a view to
make some use of them to show that there had never been any
inconsistency in my public conduct. He spoke of a memoir
of my life in the Portfolio of January, 1819, and of a paper in
the Democratic Press of the 5th of this month, neither of which
I had seen. I mentioned to him a general outline of my polit-
ical course from 1793 to the present time. He said that Mr.
Fuller had told him of a conversation that he had some years
since with John Lowell, who said that I had never been con-
sidered a sound federalist, for that on my first election as a
member of the Senate of Massachusetts I had, upon the choice
of Councillors, proposed in a federal caucus to select a propor-
tion of the opposite party by way of conciliation. This inci-
dent had entirely escaped my recollection, but when mentioned
I had an indistinct remembrance of it, and on recurring to my
diary I found it noticed 27th May, 1802.'
Upon Major Roberdeau*s coming in, Mr. Parker went away.
Roberdeau's object was to tell me that he had been to Rich-
mond to endeavor to obtain possession, for the War Office, of
the late Mr. Tatem*s papers ; and he brought me a letter from
a person having apparently no sort of right to them, yet having
* See volume i. p. 252.
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l822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 15
a pretension to something like an order for their delivery. I
told Major Roberdeau that I could not authorize the delivery
of those documents to any one. They had been left by Tatem
with Mr. King, of the Department of State, with express in-
junction to deliver them to no person but himself There was
among them the identical copy of Mitchell's Map used by the
Ministers who negotiated the Peace of 1782, and with the
boundary pencil-marked by them. This map belonged to the
public, and the Department of State was the place where it
ought to be deposited. How Tatem had come by it never was
explained. He had proposed to sell these documents to the
public, but there had been some disagreement about the price
to be paid for them. Tatem was now dead, and had left no
legal representative entitled to claim the property. The con-
clusion was natural that, being conscious they belonged to
the public, he had placed them where they would be in their
possession. Major Roberdeau replied that had been precisely
his object, but he had supposed the War Department was the
place where it would be proper they should be deposited. The
papers that he had found at Richmond were of no value.
The President summoned a Cabinet meeting at one o'clock,
which was fully attended. The project of a Convention with
France was again discussed. There was some conversation
about the terms gross avoirdupois weights which I had used,
and which Mr. Crawford did not understand. He thought the
term ** gross" was applicable only to the proceeds of merchan-
dise as correlative to the terms *'net" proceeds. Mr. Wirt
concurred in this opinion ; whence it is evident that the term
"gross" as applied to weights is not universally used, and that
its use in the Convention might hereafter give rise to questions;
it must therefore be omitted, and other words substituted for it.
Mr. Crawford insisted also that the fifty-six and twenty-eight
pound weights were never called fifty and twenty-five pound
weights, although they are so in the ordinances of his own
State of Georgia. But the main object of discussion was upon
the Baron de Neuville's proposal of the separate article, that
the discriminating duty shall be levied only upon the excess of
importations over the value of the exportations by the same
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l6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
vessel. Mr. Calhoun, by a process of general reasoning, has
brought himself to the belief that this article will operate en-
tirely in our favor, and will in substance abolish the discrimi-
nating duty entirely. He wished it, therefore, to be made essen-
tially an article of the Convention, and not a separate article.
The letter of Enoch Silsby to Degrand strongly objects against
this y^^ article, as very unfavorable to our shipping generally,
and especialiy to th^^ ^^ ^^e Eastern shipping interest. But
the more these objections wert urged, the more Calhoun's
passion for the article kindled, till at last he dbjected against
the Convention altogether unless the separate article snGV**v
be included in it. He thought the discriminating duty of three
dollars and seventy-five cents, or twenty francs, per occupied ton,
was too high, unless with the deduction provided for in the
separate article ; and referred to Mr. Gallatin's opinion that we
could not bear a discrimination of more than one and a half
per cent, and our determination last year not to go beyond
that. But I observed that Mr. Gallatin's opinions had since
evidently leaned towards further concession, and I had little
doubt that our shipping would, even with the duty of twenty
francs, obtain a large portion of the trade. My objection always
was to the admission of the principle, and I had much less
reliance than Mr. Calhoun upon the operation of the separate
article in our favor. The practical merchants on both sides
evidently saw it in other lights. The Baron had proposed it
either by advice from home or by consultation with French
merchants residing here. They certainly thought it would
operate in favor of France. Silsby was alarmed at it, even sup-
posing it only a duty of three dollars. There was much con-
^ sideration to be given to the course of trade, and although the
separate article offered a premium for a direct return of our
vessels from France with cargoes, it could not be obtained but
by sacrificing greater profits by a circuitous trade.
Calhoun still persisted with very plausible arguments on his
general reasoning, and said, in reference to Silsby's letter, that
it might injure that particular part of the country, but would
equally benefit another ; upon which I said, with some temper,
that I did not wish to injure that particular part of the country.
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The President proposed that the article providing for the
diminution of the discriminating duty by one-fourth annually
should commence the discrimination from the expiration of the
two years, instead of one year afterwards, and the project is to
be altered accordingly. There was enquiry made whether we
could not consult practical merchants in some of the com-
mercial cities before coming to a conclusion; but there is
scarcely time, and there are objections to the thing itself No
positive determination was made, but I am to alter the phra-
seology concerning the weights and the article in which the
diminution is stipulated, and then to send the project again to
the French Minister. The President had intended to propose
again the question whether he should send Ministers to South
America ; but there was not time. He gave me two Baltimore
newspapers urging that the measure should be immediately
taken, and asked me to look over them.
I ith. General D. Parker was here again this morning, and
spoke of his intended journey, of Watkins's projects, and of
the article in the Democratic Press of the 5th. He intimated
that Watkins, who was a man of honorable mind and of great
sensibility, had thought that I had on some occasion checked
his enquiries, which were really intended to serve me. He said
also that Watkins had the idea of answering that article in the
Democratic press by a publication in the same paper.
I said I had a due sense of Dr. Watkins's frier\dly disposition
to me, and I had always so freely answered his. enquiries that
I had certainly intended no check upon them. But some-
body had told me some months since that Dr. Watkins was
taking some measures to engage the Aurora, Duane*s paper,
in my favor; upon which I had requested that Dr. Watkins
would take special care to do nothing of that sort as with my
consent, for that I had rather have Duane and his Aurora
against me than for me. But Duane had lately been here,
and, after his return to Philadelphia, had published that over-
tures from three different sources, to propitiate him in my
favor, had been made to him. What he meant, or to whom he
referred, I know not, but I suppose Dr. Watkins is one of them ;
but the mere suspicion of my authorizing any one to tamper for
VOL. VI. — 2
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1 8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
the support of Duane will do me more harm than he could do
me good by a whole life of his friendship. As to Watkins's
publishing in the Democratic Press, I had no objection to that,
but Binns, its editor, was exasperated against me for having
appointed the Franklin Gazette for printing the laws, and
Binns himself was greatly discredited by the Republican party
in Pennsylvania. Parker goes for Boston to-morrow.
1 2th. We had as visitors Dr. Tucker, Dr. Thornton, and
Mr. William King, the Commissioner upon the Florida Treaty
claims. The Commission meet again this week. Mr. King
was exceedingly anxious to know how the Convention witb
France stands, and repeated his unsuccessful enquiries con-
cerning it more than once. He also gave me to understand
that he strongly disapproved of Mr. Russell's letter.
14th. At the office I finished the draft of a projected Con-
vention with France, which I sent to the French Minister with
a letter proposing to confer with him on the remaining points
of difference this day or to-morrow. Received his answer
promising to call to-morrow.
15th. I received this morning a note from the President ex-
pressing some anxiety for the conclusion of the negotiation
with the French Minister. He came to the office at the time
appointed, and we discussed in a conference of two hours the
project I had sent him of a Convention. His first objection was
to the quantities I had assumed as constituting the ton. The
proposal of agreeing upon certain quantities of each article as
constituting the ton for the discriminating duty was his own;
but I had increased the quantities for some of our articles of
exportation, and diminished it for some of those of importa-
tion. We chaffered upon the articles of wine, brandy, cotton,
tobacco, and rice ; but, as I thought the object not worth con-
testing, I told the Baron it was impossible we should differ
upon such trifles of detail, and finally acceded to his quantities
in almost every case, obtaining, however, some concessions on
other points from him. That upon which he made the greatest
difficulty was, to admit the charge of brokerage as one of those
to be equalized among the charges upon shipping, so that the
discriminating duties should not exceed ninety-four cents in
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the United States, nor five francs in France. He said he should
have all the brokers in France in full outcry against him, and
would hardly dare to land at Havre. He said also that this
was a private charge, with which the Government had nothing
to do. Not more, I replied, than pilotage. The Government
compelled our navigators to employ the brokers, and would
not permit our Consuls to perform the service for them. The
brokers were paid for these services when performing them for
their own countrymen ; why should they be allowed to charge
more to Americans than to Frenchmen ? It was only the ex-
cess which they would be required to abandon, and that excess
must be considered as a public charge, since it was compulsively
levied by the authority of the Government ; and I reminded
him of the controversy between Mr. Beasley and the brokers
at Havre, in which there had been a decision of a Minister of
State in our favor; though it was afterwards reversed by a
judicial tribunal, and we were told that the Minister had tran-
scended his authority.
He said that was Mr. UAine, and finally agreed to let the
word brokerage stand upon my consenting to allow eight hun-
dred pounds to pass for the ton of cotton. He objected also
to the alteration I had made in his article for delivering up de-
serting seamen. He had copied his article from that of the old
Consular Convention, which authorized the arrest of captains
of vessels and others belonging to them, as well as of desert- ,
ing seamen. I had restricted to these last the liability to be
arrested and delivered up. I told him there did not seem to be
the same reason for arresting captains and others, officers, or
not sailors, and whose desertion could scarcely be a subject
of apprehension. He assented to this, but wished that a time
might be limited beyond which the deserters themselves should
not be detained under arrest — by which his real object seems
to be to mark a time to the extent of which they may be dc-
tainable. He engaged to propose an article as an amendment
to mine, which I promised him would be considered. He made
great difficulties about accepting the reduction of the discrimi-
nating duties by one-fourth yearly, commencing at the expira-
tion of the two years for which the Convention is positively t6
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20 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June.
endure. He had proposed the reduction should be only of
one-eighth yearly, and to commence not till the end of the
third year. He said that he thought a sixth would be better
than a fourth, an eighth better than a sixth, and a tenth better
than an eighth. He now proposed, however, one-sixth ; but I
told him this provision was the only thing that reconciled us
to the heaviness of the discriminating duty, which would give
great dissatisfaction to the people of this country ; and that the
President, after consulting the Administration, had thought it
indispensable to insist upon this part of the article, and, after
all, it would commence only when the longer continuance of
the Convention would be on both sides voluntary.
He appeared finally to acquiesce, though not explicitly, in
the annual reduction of one-fourth. He expressed the wish to
make the two separate articles separate also from each other ;
to which I agreed. His last difficulty was, that I had in the
concluding article expressed that the Convention was drawn up
original in both languages. He said he was willing to do any-
thing in that respect for which there was a precedent, but here-
tofore there had been a pretension on the part of France of a
preference for the French language. They no longer had any
such pretension ; but as this express assertion, that both sides
were original, was in no other treaty, he was afraid it might
make some difficulty in France. I referred him to the former
treaties with France, but although they were all signed in both
languages, and all, except the Consular Convention of 14th
November, 1788, expressly say so, yet all the rest, except the
Convention of 30th September, 1800, say they were originally
drawn up in French, and that says the signing in both lan-
guages shall not be drawn into precedent. He seemed to doubt
the propriety of declaring the copies in both languages original.
I told him it was certainly no novelty in French diplomacy ;
and showed him the discussion between the French and British
Commissaries previous to the war of 1755, in which the British
Commissaries charge the French with having quoted the Treaty
of Utrecht in the French translation instead of the original
Latin; to which the French Commissaries replied that the
French copy was original as well as the Latin.
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" Well/* said thp Baron, " ils avoient tort." He consented,
however, after I had shown him this example, to insert the
word " original" at the top of the treaty on both sides, as was
done in our last treaty with Spain.
With regard to the separate article stipulating only the ex-
cess of importations over the exportations as liable to the dis-
criminating duty, I told him the consequence would be that
not one French vessel would ever pay the discriminating 'duty
in this country, for they all will carry away cargoes of as much
or more value than they will bring. He said he believed the
effect would also be that few or none of our vessels would pay
the duty in France, but then their commerce would gain what
their navigation might lose by it, and he was so satisfied that
by consenting to reduce the discriminating duty to twenty
francs the French Government had entirely given up the navi-
gating question, that he wished to secure something for any
other interest in its stead. It was, after all, only for two years,
and in the course of that time the Sanford law, which, by the
way, he thought rather indiscreet, would show all the results.
He said they had now a similar law, and would have like
returns, in France.
He also spgke of the complaint against Lieutenant Stockton
and the letter of apology which he had requested on that sub-
ject. I told him Lieutenant Stockton was now here, and had
made a report of the affair to the Secretary of the Navy, a copy
of which I should send him with a letter, which I hoped would
prove satisfactory. He promised to send me a final draft of the
Convention in both languages, with the modifications as now
agreed upon by us, to-morrow.
1 6th. General Scott told us that he had just returned from
Richmond, where he had been to ascertain whether he could
be returned to the next Congress. He had received all pos-
sible encouragement, but he found that the county in which
his friend Archer lived would certainly be brought into the
district ; and although there was probably no important public
question upon which Archer and he would vote on the same
side, yet he had been from college days his intimate friend,
and he could not possibly think of opposing him. He said
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22 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
Archer was a Radical and inclined to be Jacobinical, and so, he
was sorry to say, was the State of Virginia, though nothing
could give him more pain than to differ in opinion upon any
subject from the people of Virginia.
We entered into a very earnest discussion upon the question
as to the power of Congress to make internal improvements in
the country by roads and canals. He avowed his concurrence
with the opinion of the President, that Congress had the power
of appropriating money to make the roads, but not to make
them ; which, I told him, was saying that they had the right
to use the means, but not to enjoy the end. I asked him also
several questions, till he said he did not like the Socratic mode
of reasoning.
The Count de Menou brought me this evening the draft of
a Convention in both languages from the French Minister.
It is drawn up as we had agreed yesterday ; but he has copied
the article concerning seamen from the old Consular Con-
vention.
1 8th. Note from the President of the United States, urging
me to sign the Convention with France. I sent to ask the
French Minister to call at the office, which he did. I proposed
to him an enlargement of the articles concerning the discrimi-
nating duties, so as to make them applicable to merchandise
other than the produce and manufacture of the two countries.
But he declined agreeing to it ; said his instructions would not
admit of it, and had very recently limited him expressly to the
productions of the two countries only. I had found that he
had fixed the weight of tobacco to the ton much too low, and
Mr. Yard had urged that it should be raised from fifteen hun-
dred to two thousand pounds. He insisted that he had returns
from various places which made it only thirteen and fourteen
hundred pounds. All the accounts I had consulted made it
near two thousand, and one, much more. We agreed to have
the copies of the Convention made out, leaving those quanti-
ties in blank, to be filled upon further information. I drafted a
circular to send to several Collectors in the neighborhood to
ascertain the fact.
The Baron asked me when I should write to him on the
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 23
complaint against Lieutenant Stockton ; spoke also of the case
of the Apollon, and of the claim under the eighth article of the
Louisiana Treaty, expressing the wish to settle all these ques-
tions before he goes away. I promised him an answer in the
case of Stockton, but proposed to leave the other affairs in
statu quo. I spoke to him of the disturbance of our fishermen
by French armed vessels on the coast of Newfoundland, and
told him I should write to Mr. Gallatin on the subject. He
said he had spoken to me or to Mr. Rush concerning it several
years ago ; but that he would look into the subject, and was
disposed to do anything in it for our accommodation.
19th. This subject of the fisheries is absorbing so much of
my attention that it encroaches upon my other necessary occu-
pations. But I cannot give too deep attention to it. " What
in me is dark, illumine; what is low, raise and support."
Going to the President's I met Mr.^De Menou, who was going
to my office. He said the Baron de Neuville had heard the
President was going to Virginia, and, as he was going himself
soon to France, he wished before the President's departure
to have an audience of him to take leave. At one o'clock I
presented Mr. Manuel Torres as Charge d'Affaires from the
.republic of Colombia to the President. This incident was
chiefly interesting as being the first formal act of recognition
of an independent South American Government. Torres, who
has scarcely life in him to walk alone, was deeply affected by
it. He spoke of the great importance to the republic of Co-
lombia of this recognition, and of his assurance that it would
give extraordinary gratification to Bolivar.
The President invited him to be seated, sat down by him,
and spoke to him with kindness which moved him even to
tears. The President assured him of the great interest taken
by the United States in the welfare and success of his country,
and of the particular satisfaction with which he received him
as its first representative. The audience was, as usual, only
of a few minutes ; and Mr. Torres on going away gave me
a printed copy of the Constitution of Colombia.
I told the President of the French Minister's desire to have
an audience to take leave, which he promised to give before he
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24 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June.
should go to Virginia. He also directed a Cabinet meeting for
to-morrow at one o'clock to consider again the question whether
Ministers shall immediately be sent to the South American
Governments. On returning to the office, I wrote a paragraph
to be inserted in the National Intelligencer to-morrow, an-
nouncing the reception of Mr. Torres by the President, and
prepared a letter to the French Minister on the complaint
against Lieutenant Stockton.
20th. Cabinet meeting at one o'clock. Mr. Crawford, being
indisposed, did not attend, and Mr. Wirt is absent from the city.
Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Thompson were present. The President
proposed again the question whether Ministers should forth-
with be sent to the Southern republics. The opinions of Mr.
Calhoun and Mr. Thompson were both against the measure —
Calhoun chiefly because there appeared to be no urgent neces-
sity for it, and because there was no strong manifestation of
public sentiment for it. He observed there were only two
or three newspapers, and those not leading prints, that were
clamorous for it, and in general the public acquiesced in the
course now pursued by the Executive. Mr. Thompson's ob-
jection arose from a doubt of the power of the President to
appoint a Minister during the recess of the Senate.
I observed that my opinion had been that we should receive
a Minister from the South American Governments before send-
ing one. As this opinion, however, had not been much coun-
tenanced, Idid not wish to hold it too pertinaciously, and with
regard to the republic of Colombia there was less reason to be
punctilious, as, having received from them a Charge d'Aflaires,
the mere appointment of a person of higher rank to go there
would be less of a departure from the regular order of estab-
lishing diplomatic intercourse than it would be to be first in
making any diplomatic appointment. I should not object to
the appointment of a Minister on that account, and I thought
a Minister to the republic of Colombia ought to be appointed
now, or at the meeting of Congress. I supposed that a treaty
of commerce might be negotiated with that republic, but I
should not propose or desire to obtain by it any exclusive
advantages. Mutual advantage and reciprocity are all that we
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2$
ought to ask, and all that we can be willing to grant. As to
running a race with England to snatch from these new nations
some special privilege or monopoly, I thought it neither a wise
nor an honest policy. Do what we can, the commerce with
South America will be much more important and useful to
Great Britain than to us, and Great Britain will be a power
vastly more important to them than we, for the simple reason
that she has the power of supplying their wants by her manu-
factures. We have few such supplies to furnish them, and in
articles of export are their competitors. Yet I was not appre-
hensive that England would obtain from them any exclusive
advantages to our prejudice. They had no partialities in favor
of England : they were jealous of her. England would be in
no hurry to send Ministers to them, unless prompted by our
example and for fear of us. The British Ministry were em-
barrassed by our recognition of the South Americans, as was
apparent from a late debate in the House of Commons. The
French Government were equally so ; and Zea had taken the
most effectual means of compelling their acknowledgment, by
letting them know that those who should acknowledge would
have all their trade.
As to the question of appointment during the recess of the
Senate, the words of the Constitution were against the exer-
cise of the power ; the reason of the words is in its favor. At
the close of the session of the Senate before the last, they had
no such scruple of the power of the President to appoint during
the recess ; for at the last hour of their session they passed a
resolution recommending such an appointment. At their late
session, however, a different doctrine did prevail with them ;
and, as with it some temper had been mingled, it was very
probable if an appointment should now be made they would
pass a negative upon the nomination.
Mr. Thompson said he had no doubt they would reject it;
that at the last session they had been unanimous in their
•-opinion against the President's right. The President read a
passage of a letter that he had received from Mr. Madison
upon the subject. It mentioned that there had been an occa-
sion ufK)n which the question had been thoroughly examined
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26 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
by the Executive, and determined in favor of the right ; but
did not say when, nor under what Administration. Nothing
definite was resolved upon; but the President desired me to
converse further with Mr. Torres, and ascertain whether a
Minister will probably be sent from Colombia here.
After Calhoun and Thompson were gone, I proposed to the
President that the mission to the republic of Colombia, whether
to be appointed now or at the meeting of Congress, should be
offered to Mr. Clay. I thought it doubtful whether he would
accept it — very probable that he would make no delicate or
generous use of it — and that the comments upon the offer,
both of his partisans and of others, would be various, and in
many cases invidious. But, upon the whole, the effect upon
the public would be favorable. He wanted the offer. The
Western country wished it might be made to him. His talents
were eminent; his claims from public service considerable.
The republic of Colombia, and particularly Bolivar, with whom
he has been in correspondence, will be flattered by his appoint-
ment, or even by information that he had the offer of it. In
the relations to be established between us and that republic,
Mr. Clay's talents might be highly useful; and I did not
apprehend any danger from them.
The President appeared to be well disposed to take this
course. He said that Mr. Clay's conduct towards him and his
Administration had not been friendly or generous, but he was
disposed entirely to overlook that. He stood upon ground quite
independent of Mr. Clay, and as he had never needed his sup-
port, he had never felt the want of it. He would consider of the
proposal to offer him the mission, and was not indisposed to it.
As to myself, Clay's conduct has been always hostile to me,
and generally insidious. From the time of the Ghent negotia-
tion I have been in the way of his ambition, and by himself
and his subordinates he has done all in his power to put me
out of it. In pursuing a generous policy towards him, as an
enemy and a rival, I do some violence to my inclination, and
shall be none the better treated by him ; but I look to per-
sonal considerations only to discard them, and regard only the
public interests.
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2 1st. I received a note from the President, directing me, after
my letter to the French Minister about Stockton's seizures
should be written, to see the Baron and show it to him, so
as to arrange the matter to his satisfaction, to avoid a corre-
spondence which might delay the conclusion of the Conven-
tion. Now, this was undertow, through Crawford, or through
Thompson, the Secretary of the Navy. De Neuville has worked
through this negotiation chiefly by such means. He has
wormed out of us a Convention which will give great dissatis-
faction here, and far less favorable to us than I could have
obtained but for this countermining. Crawford has all along
hung like a dead weight upon the negotiation. A bad Con-
vention was precisely the thing suited to his interest. A good
one would have been highly creditable to the Department of
State. He has invariably been for conceding everything, for
agreeing to everything demanded by France; and now he is
for making humiliating concessions upon the complaint against
Stockton. Thompson has not the same motives, but there is
a Secretary of the French Legation intimate in his family, and
that gives access to the President through another whispering-
gallery. Such is the way of the world ! Winding-stairs in
every direction. I am sure the President has been beset by a
back door, from this note. It came too late, however. My
letter to the Baron was already dispatched — of which I am
glad, for it is very obvious that after writing him a letter quite
sufficiently apologetic, to send for him, show it to him, and ask
him if that was enough, would be no other than an invitation
to him to insist upon more.
I called upon Mr. Torres at Brown's Hotel, and found him
anxious to return to Philadelphia immediately. He said he had
no medical assistance here, and was not comfortably lodged.
If there was, therefore, no objection on the part of this Govern-
ment, he should be glad to go to-morrow morning. I said
there was no reason for detaining him to the injury of his
health, and the President would wish him to consult that
altogether. He said he had again received instructions to
propose a treaty of commerce, founded altogether upon prin-
ciples of reciprocity. I told him that the proposal would be
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28 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
received with the most friendly consideration, and asked him if
he had prepared his representation upon the subject He had
not, but said he would send it to me from Philadelphia. He
said a Minister would undoubtedly soon be sent to this country
from the republic of Colombia. He thought it would be Mr.
Salazar.
I showed him the paper sent me by General Smith, of Balti-
more, containing the ordinance of the Congress, in which a dis-
crimination of duties is made in favor of merchandise imported
from Europe ; and, observing that this discrimination was dis-
advantageous to the United States, requested him to write to
his Government concerning it — which he promised he would.
He said he was sure it was a mere inadvertence, not intended
to operate against the United States. He had no doubt but
that importations from the United States were under that article
of the ordinance considered as articles imported from Europe ;
but he would nevertheless write immediately, and was per-
suaded all doubt upon the subject would be removed as soon
as the case should be stated.
22d. I sent to the Baron Hyde de Neuville, requesting him
to call at my office ; which he did. I told him I had received
answers to my enquiries concerning the weight of tobacco
usually going to a register ton of shipping, and would accept
his offer of putting it down at sixteen hundred pounds avoir-
dupois, which is one hundred more than he had fixed it. He
chaffered about it for some time, but finally consented. I asked
him if he had received my letter concerning the affair of Lieu-
tenant Stockton, and its enclosures. He said he had; but
intimated that my letter contained no offer of satisfaction, and
said he should reply to it. He appeared rather out of humor
with it, and half hinting that he should insist upon something
more. I said I supposed he would not wish to exact from us
anything humiliating. We had assured him that Lieutenant
Stockton seized the vessels mistaking them for Americans;
that, to avoid any such mistakes for the future, express orders
had been issued to all our naval officers to seize no vessel
under a foreign flag. Without self-debasement we could not
do more.
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 29
He said what he wanted was complete satisfaction, so that
the English might not have the pretence that the French flag
had ever been subjected to search.
From the .tone of his argument, I was confirmed in the con-
viction that he had been in communication indirectly with the
President on the subject. I proposed to him, however, and he
agreed, to come to the office and execute the Convention next
Monday at two o'clock. I took to the President a copy of the
Convention as prepared for execution, that he might examine
it between this and Monday.
24th. Last evening I received a long letter from the French
Minister about the complaint concerning Lieutenant Stockton.
He accepts for disavowal and satisfaction the last letter I wrote
him, agrees to leave other subjects for future discussion, and to
sign the Convention this day. This morning he sent a transla-
tion of his letter, which Mr. Brent brought to my house. At
one o'clock the Baron Hyde de Neuville, the French Minister,
came with De Menou, and we executed four copies of the Com-
mercial Convention in both languages. Two copies had been
made by Mr. Ironside at the office, and two at the French Le-
gation. Some small corrections were necessary to make them
all uniform. The alternative was preserved throughout. Both
copies were signed and sealed by both parties, and both as
originals. In the examination of the copies, the Baron held
one of ours, and I one of theirs ; Mr. Brent the other of theirs,
and Menou the other of ours. Menou read the French copy,
and Mr. Brent ours. We found the usual inconveniences of
sealing the inside of the papers with wax, and in more than
the usual degree, as there were two separate articles, each
separately executed.
The Baron observed to Menou that this day was my festival
day — St. John's day — the Baptist. He said his own name was
John, too ; but from the Evangelist. As we sealed on both
sides of the paper, it happened in one of the copies that by the
turning of a leaf his seal and mine adhered together, so that
they could not be parted. I told him it was de bon atigure —
which he took as a compliment. We interchanged the copies,
he taking one of his own and one of ours, and we the same.
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30 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
Mr. De Bresson afterwards came, and offered to take any
dispatches for France. He goes as a messenger with the Con-
vention, and said he expected to return here with the ratifica-
tion before the commencement of the session of Congress in
December. I made a draft of a proclamation of the President
suspending the operation of the Act of Congress of the 15th of
May and other discriminating duties upon French vessels and
merchandise imported in them from the 1st of October until
the end of the next session of Congress. But a question oc-
curred as to the extent of the President's authority, upon which
^I must consult him.
25th. At one o'clock I presented the Baron Hyde de Neu-
ville to the President to take leave. He was attended by the
Count de Menou, Hersant^ and Laborie. He addressed the
President in a set speech, in substance much the same as that
which he had made two years ago. He said that in 1807 he
had found a refuge in this country as an exile, and then he had
formed a strong and affectionate attachment to it; that in 1815^
after the return of peace and order in his own country, the
King, who, like his brother, had always felt the most friendly
dispositions towards the United States, had cast his eyes upon
him for his representative here, knowing him to be the sincere
and faithful friend of both countries; that his conduct here had
been invariably inspired by those sentiments ; that as his mis-
sion to Brazil had not taken place, he had not received from his
Government letters of recredence, and he came therefore now
to take only a temporary, and not a final leave; that if a sincere
and earnest attachment to this country, and a heartfelt respect
for the virtues of its Chief Magistrate, could give him any claim
to his good opinion, he was conscious of deserving it; that
the Count de Menou was the person whom he should present
as the Charge d' Affaires of France during his absence, and he
would be the faithful interpreter of the same sentiments on the
part of the French Government as those he had expressed.
The President answered without premeditation, that he was
extremely gratified to hear the expression from ///;;/ / that from
the King, his sovereign, the United States, as well as from his
brother, had never received anything but kindness ; that we
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remember it, and will remember it ; that our most earnest de-
sire is to be upon terms of the most perfect cordiality with
France; that as for himself, we should always recollect his
residence here with pleasure — his conduct had always been
satisfactory, and such as to warrant the perfect sincerity of
what he had now said ; that he, the President, rejoiced at the
Convention which he had concluded with us, and hoped it would
lead to the best understanding between the two countries ; that
as to the discussions which had taken place with him, we had
always considered him as maintaining the interest of his coun-
try. We had been in similar situations ourselves; we con-
sidered the earnestness which he had manifested as merely the
discharge of his duty, and retained no unkind feeling towards
him on that account. As to the affair of the seizure of the
French vessels by Lieutenant Stockton, we much regretted it.
The orders to our officers had only authorized them to cap-
ture American vessels. It was a mistake. Orders had been
since sent to all our naval officers to capture no vessel under a
foreign flag, and we had made to France all the reparation in
our power. With regard to himself, as he was going home, he
would be assured that we wished him well ; and I should write
to our Minister in France to the same effect. We should also
take pleasure in communicating with the Count de Menou,
who he had no doubt would continue to cherish and promote
the most friendly relations between the two countries.
The Baron then took his leave with his suite, and, as I fol-
lowed him from the drawing-room into the next apartment,
asked me if he could have what the President had just said to
him in writing. I said I would mention it to the President,
and observed that it would then be necessary that he should
also communicate his speech in writing. On returning to the
President, I told him of the Baron's request, and the President
said he would give the substance of it in writing as far as he
could recollect it.
The Portuguese Charge d' Affaires, Amado, came to the office
with the Consul-General, Joaquim Barroso Pereira, whom he
presented to take his place, he having received permission to
return to Lisbon. He also informed me that Mr. Da Costa,
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32 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
whom he had presented to me last March, was now gone to
Brazil. He asked also when he could be presented to the
President to take leave; upon which I promised to take the
President's directions and inform him. The President approved
of the proclamation to issue with the French Convention.
26th. Baron Stackelberg, the Swedish Charge d'Affaires,
came and spoke of a note which I lately received from him,
enclosing the copy of a letter to him from Count Engestrom
declaring the determination of the Swedish Government not
to admit a Consul of the United States at the island of St.
Bartholomew. I told him I should answer his note, and hoped
his Government would reconsider their determination. He re-
curred to the reasons assigned by Engestrom, that foreign Con-
suls were excluded from the island because it was a colony,
and because during the French Revolution a Consul from
France had been admitted there, and had proved very trouble-
some by his turbulence.
I observed that neither of these reasons could justify the
refusal to receive an American Consul at St. Bartholomew's ;
that European Governments excluded foreign Consuls from
their colonies because foreign commerce with them was inter-
dicted. Where there was no commerce, there could be no need
of a Consul ; but where commerce was allowed, the Consul fol-
lowed of course — as much so as an army implied a general.
Now, the Swedish Government not only allowed foreign com-
merce with St. Bartholomew's, but in the treaty between the
United States and Sweden that island was specially named.
Its inhabitants, their vessels and their merchandise, were en-
titled to the same advantages in the United States as those of
Sweden, and the citizens of the United States were entitled to
the same in the island as in Sweden. The province of a Con-
sul was to secure in effect to the people of his nation the real
enjoyment in foreign ports of the commercial advantages to
which they were entitled by treaty, or by the laws of nations,
and the people of the United States had, in fact, more com-
merce with the island of St. Bartholomew than with the whole
kingdom of Sweden. I saw, therefore, no more reason for ex-
cluding an American Consul from St. Bartholomew's than a
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Swedish Consul from New York; and if American citizens
were denied the benefit of an official protector in the island,
why should the people of the island have the right to the
support of a Swedish Consul in the United States ?
The Baron had little to say in reply to all this, and admitted
that he had thought a Consul would be admitted, though he
supposed the Government reserved to itself the right of grant-
ing the exequatur.
Mr. Gales, of the Intelligencer, came to^ propose that the
President's proclamation and the Convention with France,
which were published in the paper this morning, should be
printed over again the day after to-morrow, the publication of
this morning, particularly the French part of the Convention,
being full of errors. There is also a material error in the
proclamation itself, for which I am myself responsible, the draft
being incorrect. Neither the President nor Mr. Crawford had
discovered it, nor did I till I read the proclamation in print —
when it immediately struck me. I agreed with Gales that the
whole proclamation should be reprinted, and I would correct
the press myself; and that notice should be given in the paper
of to-morrow that the publication of this morning was incor-
rect. I took care also to have the error in the proclamation
corrected in the City Gazette of this afternoon.
I called at the President's, and met there Mr. Thompson,
the Secretary of the Navy. They were much concerned at a
publication iif the Intelligencer of this morning, by Lieutenant
Stockton, of the principal part of his letter to me in vindica-
tion of his seizure of the French slave vessels. The Baron de
Neuville is much disturbed at this publication, especially as ap-
l^earing at this time ; and it worries the President. The Baron
did not this day present the Count de Menou to me as Charge
d' Affaires, as had been yesterday agreed between us. He sent
word by Menou that he would present him another day, being
now much occupied, and Madame de Neuville being ill.^
28th. Cabinet meeting at noon. Wirt only absent. The
President unwell. The question for consideration was on the
proceedings of the Senate, at their last session, upon several
military nominations — of Colonels Fenwick, House, and Eustis.
VOL. VI. — 3
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34 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
They were nominated to rank from the 25th of April, 1822, to
the command of particular regiments. The Senate divided
the questions, advised and consented to the first member of the
nomination, and negatived the date of the rank. A desultory
discussion took place on various questions arising from these
transactions. Had the Senate a right to divide the nomination
by the President into two parts ? To take two questions upon
it? to confirm one and reject the other? Was it not equiva-
lent to the rejection of the whole ? What was the first member
of the nomination ? was it the simple nomination as colonel,
or as colonel of the specified regiment ?
Mr. Calhoun thought it was the mere nomination as colonel,
and likened it to a nomination by the President of a person
as Minister to France upon which the Senate should advise
and consent to him as Minister to England. Mr. Thompson
thought at first that this was equivalent to a rejection of the
nomination ; and I inclined to the same opinion. Calhoun
considered the Senate as having undertaken to decide that the
commissions should rank from the time of the new arrangement
of the army last summer.
But upon further examination I found that the resolutions
of the Senate explicitly confirmed the nominations, not only of
the rank, but to the regiments specially designated ; and that
they negatived nothing more than the date of rank. They
designated no other date of rank, and clearly could not by the
Constitution.
Mr. Crawford and Mr. Calhoun for some time insisted that
in the report of the Committee of the Senate, and in other pro-
ceedings of the Senate itself, connected with the subject, they
had undertaken to designate the time when the commissions
should commence, and a different arrangement of corps. All,
however, at last assented that the confirmation was of every-
thing but the date of rank; and that the commissions might
issue dated from the day of the confirmation.
The President once or twice intimated the wish to have the
opinion of each member of the Cabinet in writing, as it was a
Constitutional question, and Mr. Calhoun, to the last, urged
the danger of the precedent on the part of the Senate, which
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he considered as an attempt to usurp upon the President the
right of nomination itself. The President also expressed some-
thing of a similar apprehension.
I finally observed to him that by dating the commissions
from the day of the confirmation nothing would be conceded
to the Senate. It will be merely assuming that they have con-
firmed the nominations. The date of rank may be considered
as a point unadjusted between the President and the Senate,
and not essential to the appointment ; by which means a fur-
ther and most unpleasant misunderstanding and altercation
with the Senate will be avoided. If the President should
finally decide to consider the nominations as confirmed, and
date the commissions from the day of the Senate's confirma-
tion, it would be best perhaps not to require written opinions
from each member of the Administration ; but if he should
consider the nominations as rejected, it will undoubtedly be
necessary.
The President said he would reflect upon it, and come to his
decision at leisure.
29th. Mr. Canning had written me a note yesterday request-
ing to see me. I appointed this day at one, and he came. It
was to take up the subject of the slave-trade. He said from the
communications of Lord Londonderry to Mr. Rush it appeared
that his Lordship believed that one main difficulty which had
been made on our part to the arrangements proposed by Great
Britain might be removed — that is, the trial by the mixed
Courts ; and he hoped, therefore, that we should be willing to
yield the other point, the limited and reciprocal right of search.
I told him that any proposition that he had to make upon
that subject would be received with the most respectful and
friendly consideration. He gave me, however, to understand
that he had no proposition to make, and he evaded answering
the question which I put, what was Lord Londonderry's pro-
posed substitute for the mixed Courts. With some circumlo-
cution he came finally to the statement that he expected a new
proposition from us. This had so much the appearance of a
trick, that it heated me. I said to him —
*• Mr. Canning, there is nothing I like so well as a straight-
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36 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
forward course. We have seen no cause to change our opinions
upon any of the points which have been so fully discussed be-
tween us. We have no new proposition, therefore, to make. It
is one thing to make a proposition, and another to ask that a
proposition should be made. When the Marquis of London-
derry, therefore, gave notice to Mr. Rush that it was proposed
to resume the correspondence upon the slave-trade, we cer-
tainly expected that the British Government was prepared to
make some new proposition to us. We are not prepared to
make any to them. I could make none without authority from
the President, and the President, I was persuaded, would
authorize none without consulting all the members of the
Administration."
He asked me then whether I declined discussing the matter
further with him. I said, no ; I was willing to hear, and would
faithfully report to the President, anything that he wished to
say to me.
He took from his pocket some printed documents laid be-
fore Parliament — correspondence from British officers at Sierra
Leone, containing lists of slave vessels examined on the coast
of Africa, under French and Portuguese colors, and actively
engaged in the slave-trade — ^and he launched into a strong and
general invective against the trade.
I observed that in the lists contained in the papers there
was not a single vessel under American colors, and alleged
this circumstance as a proof of the efficacy of the measures
adopted by us to suppress the use of our flag in the trade,
which is all that could be accomplished by our agreeing to the
right of search and the mixed Courts. I remarked that it was
evident from these papers that if we had, two years ago, signed
treaties with Great Britain like those which she had obtained
from Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, there would not
have been one slave vessel the less upon these lists. Search
and the mixed Courts, therefore, would have effected nothing
for the suppression of the trade, which has not been effected
without them.
He said that a main purpose for which they wished to obtain
our assent to the principle of search was, that it might be urged
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as an example to France. I said that we should rather wish
France to adhere to her principles in this respect than to give
them up. He asked if I could conceive of a greater and more
atrocious evil than this slave-trade. I said, Yes: admitting
the right of search by foreign oflficers of our vessels upon the
seas in time of peace ; for that would be making slaves of our-
selves. We went over this ground again, as we had often done
before, repeating on both sides the same arguments as before ;
he particularly repeated that many persons in this country were
in favor of conceding this right of search, and alleged the two
successive reports of committees of the House of Representa-
tives in its favor. I merely said that there were other views
upon which those reports could be accounted for. I finally
desired him to leave with me his Parliamentary printed paper,
which I wished to take to the President, to whom I promised
him to make a full report of this conference.
We conversed also upon the report of the Commissioners
under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent ; upon the Con-
vention recently signed by me and the French Minister; upon
the question of arbitration depending before the Emperor of
Russia ; and upon certain charges made by the British Consul
at New York, of which the merchants there complain, concern-
ing which I had received in March a letter from Mr. Bayard,
President of the Chamber of Commerce in that city. This
letter in the hurry of business had been overlooked and for-
gotten, and this morning I received a letter from Charles King
reminding me of it. I gave Mr. Canning Mr. Bayard's letter,
and told him that the charges made by the Consul at New
York were not made by other Consuls, and that we did not
allow our own Consuls abroad to make them, although they
received no salaries. The merchants considered it a charge
upon their commerce. If he could cause it to cease, it would
render an application to his Government through Mr. Rush
unnecessary.
He said, though it was properly the business of the Consul-
Gene^ral, as Mr. Baker was sick he would attend to it. He said
Lord Londonderry had understood it as our desire that the
subject of the difference between the Commissioners under the
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38 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent should be treated here, for
which he had therefore been empowered ; but he had already-
informed me that the British Government could not concede
the points maintained by their Commissioner on this article as
they had on the sixth article.
I said that my instruction to Mr. Rush had merely been to
consult the British Government to ascertain whether they were
disposed to make an eflfort to adjust this difference by a nego-
tiation before resorting to the arbitration stipulated by the
treaty. I had not expressed any preference as to the place of
the negotiation ; though as the Commission had been held
here, and as all the documents were in this country, there
would obviously be a convenience in pursuing the subject here.
But I was not prepared to take it up myself, and it would take
weeks, if not months, of investigation to make myself master
of it. I had not contemplated being charged with it myself,
but that it should be referred to Commissioners, who might
have no other public duty to absorb their time, and with powers
to propose mutual concessions to the two Governments.
Upon our recent Convention with France Mr. Canning dis-
covered some curiosity, and made some shrewd remarks. He
said that although it purported only to begin from the 1st of
October, yet, by the article stipulating to refund the duties
levied upon the respective tonnage and cargoes by the existing
laws, it would in effect begin from the time of the signature of
the Convention. I said there might be a question whether the
article for refunding the extra duties could be construed to
apply to duties levied after the signature of the Convention.
By its letter, it applied only to those levied before. He ob-
served then that he believed one of the most difficult things
in the world was to draw up the articles of a treaty, and par-
ticularly to avoid stipulating more than is intended. And he
cited the article which we have in arbitration before the Em-
peror of Russia as a memorable example of this ; for the
British Plenipotentiaries never would have agreed to the article
if they had been aware that it was susceptible of the construc-
tion upon which we now insist. I said it was certainly then
the fault of Dr. Adams and Mr. Goulburn, who were intelligent
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men, and who were bound to see the purport of our proposed
amendment. I added that we should not have signed the
Peace without it; which he seemed inclined to doubt. I told
him they had no right to carry away private property or to
emancipate slaves. He said, banteringly, that if he were at war
he would emancipate every slave he could find. ** Then," said
I. ** I would never make peace with you till you paid for them.
But who are you, to talk of emancipating slaves?" He said
they had none. "And what are your West India islands?
What would you say if we should land in Jamaica and eman-
cipate your slaves?" "Ay, but." said he, "we do not mean to
let you land in Jamaica." " Not if you can help it," said I.
" Do no right and take no wrong, I have heard was the Eng-
lish sailor's motto."
This conversation lasted about three hours, and as Mr. Can-
ning went out the Baron Hyde de Neuville came in with the
Count de Menou, whom he presented as Charge d' Affaires of
France. He .began immediately upon Lieutenant Stockton's
publication in the National Intelligencer on the very same page
with the Convention, and complained of it bitterly. He said
that at the moment of his going away he was very unwilling
to complain, and he was highly gratified with the message that
the President had sent him ; but that this publication, appearing
on the same page in the same paper with the Convention, would
have in this country and in Europe the appearance as if it had
been a part of the bargain ; that it would prejudice the tribunals
against the persons criminated in Stockton's letters, and take
from them the chance of having a fair trial ; that he was con-
vinced two of the vessels had been upon voyages wholly in-
nocent, and that, although he was bound to take Lieutenant
Stockton's word of honor that he had taken them for American
vessels, there were circumstances leading strongly to the con-
clusion that he was willing to take them, knowing them to be
French.
I told him that the publication had been made by Stockton
himself without the knowledge of any member of the Govern-
ment; that he had done it only for his own vindication, he
having been severely censured in the newspapers for having
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40 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July.
made those captures ; that he had only used the h'berty of the
press, and that his pubh'cation had been much less exception-
able as related to the French Government than that of Captain
Edou, in the Moniteur last winter, against the President's mes-
sage to Congress.
He said Edou's paper had not been published in the Moni-
teur, and that Edou was not an officer in the service. Lieu-
tenant Stockton, he thought, deserved punishment for publish-
ing an official paper without the permission of his Government.
I said that might be an offence against the discipline of the
service, for which he was accountable to his Government.
He finally said he did not wish to write to me on the sub-
ject, but hoped I should give him some explanation concerning
it before his departure. He left me in rather an indifferent
humor — this incident being very much of what the French
call a contretemps.
July 1st. I received from Boston Jonathan Russell's reply to
my remarks upon his letters communicated to Congress. It is
published in the American Statesman, a newspaper printed at
Boston, of which Henry Orne is the editor. The paper is of
the 27th of June. Orne is a young lawyer of some talents, and
a political adventurer of whom Mr. King has made a partisan
for Crawford for the succession to the Presidency. Russell's
reply is as full of falsehoods and misrepresentations as his letter
from Paris. But he admits the interpolations in his duplicate.
He attempts to represent me as having tricked him into the
delivery of his letter at the Department as a duplicate ; and,
having no sort of regard to truth, he has made up a plausi-
ble tale of new accusation against me, to which I must again
reply. It is a great mortification to me to have a large portion
of the time which ought to be devoted to the discharge of my
public duties absorbed in necessary self-defence. This is a
miserable plot against me, devised by Clay at Ghent, and in
which he has made a tool of Russell. Clay and Russell are
the eagle and the worm of Herder's fable : Clay soars and
Russell craivis to the top of the mountain. I began upon a
rejoinder to Russell's paper this evening.
2d. Mr. Tazewell and Mr. W. King, two of the Florida Treaty
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Commissioners, called at the office to take leave. They have
adjourned till September. Mr. King had some conversation
with me concerning the difference between the American and
British Commissioners under the fifth article of the Treaty of
Ghent. I told him of its present situation and prospects. The
stipulation of the treaty was, that if the Commissioners should
disagree upon their report, it should be referred to the decision
of a friendly sovereign. But, as this must be attended with
great difficulties, we proposed to the British Government to
make a previous effort to adjust the affair by negotiation. To
this the British Government have agreed, but with a notifica-
tion that they are not disposed to yield upon the point made
by their Commissioner on this article as they had with regard
to the sixth — which seems almost equivalent to saying that it
is useless to negotiate. I told King that I expected we should
be obliged to resort to the umpire, and that it would be neces-
sary to resort to some mode of obtaining his decision. I had
thought of proposing that it should be by a commission of
three persons, one to be appointed by the British and one by
the American Government, and the third by the umpire, the
Commissioners to sit in this country, and to make to the umpire
sovereign the report, upon which his decision shall be founded.
Mr. King approved very warmly this proposal.
6th. Mr. Canning came, and had much conversation with me
respecting the disagreement between the Commissioners under
the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent, and respecting the con-
templated renewal of negotiation for the suppression of the
slave-trade ; that is, to obtain from us the stipulation admitting
the mutual right of search.
I told him I would enter upon this latter subject with him
when he pleased, but hoped he would postpone it till cooler
weather. As to the Commission under the fifth article of
the Ghent Treaty, it would be occupation for the summer to
obtain a correct knowledge of the points upon which the Com-
missioners have disagreed, and, after all, we should probably be
obliged to take the course stipulated by the treaty, of reference
to a friendly sovereign. I mentioned to him what I thought
would be the most convenient mode of making this reference :
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42 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July,
by the appointment of three Commissioners, one by the Gov-
ernment of the United States, one by the British Government,
and the third by the umpire sovereign ; the Commission to sit
in this country, and the decision to be made upon the report of
a majority of them.
Mr. Canning did not state any positive objection to this pro-
posal, but it did not appear altogether to please him. There is
a large trunk full of books, thirty folio volumes at least, reported,
with the disagreeing opinions of the Commissioners. The ques-
tion upon the construction of the first article of the Ghent Treaty
was merely a question of the grammatical meaning of a written
sentence. Nothing could be more simple, and a sovereign could
decide it in person as well as by Ministers or Commissioners.
But a complicated question about the northwest angle of Nova
Scotia, the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, the
geocentric latitude, charters of English Colonies, proclamations
and Acts of Parliament, geographical surveys of North Amer-
ican wildernesses, and ridges of highlands dividing rivers that
fall into the St. Lawrence from those that fall into the Atlantic
Ocean, it is impossible that a foreign sovereign absorbed in the
cares of his own Government should have time or be willing
to take upon himself the labor of acquainting himself with the
merits of the dispute sufficiently to decide with justice, and in
a satisfactory manner, either to himself or to the parties.
Mr. Canning proposes making a northern tour this summer.
8th. In the evening Mr. Calhoun was here, and afterwards
General Scott, with Mr. Dick, the District Judge of the United
States in Louisiana. They came while Mr. Calhoun was with
me, and interrupted our conversation. The relations in which
I now stand with Calhoun are delicate and difficult. At the
last session of Congress he suffered a few members of Con-
gress, with an Irishman named Rogers, editor of a newspaper
at Easton, Pennsylvania, at their head, to set him up as a candi-
date for the succession to the Presidency. From that moment
the caballing in Congress, in the State Legislatures, in the
newspapers, and among the people, against me, has been multi-
plied tenfold. The Franklin Gazette, of Philadelphia, under the
direction of R. Bache, G. M. Dallas, T. Sergeant, and Ingham,
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in concert with Rogers, opened immediately upon me, and has
kept up ever since an insidious fire against me. Calhoun's
partisans have countenanced it, and have been as busy as those
of Mr. Crawford in their efforts to degrade me in the public
opinion. Meanwhile, Calhoun has always professed to be a
friend and admirer of mine, and to persons whom he knows to
be my friends has said that he did not mean to be a candidate
against a Northern man, and that he himself was decidedly for
a Northern President. There was a time during the last session
of Congress when so large a proportion of members was enlisted
for Calhoun that they had it in contemplation to hold a caucus
formally to declare him a candidate. But this prospect of suc-
cess roused all Crawford's and Clay's partisans against him.
The administration of his Department was scrutinized with
severity, sharpened by personal animosity and factious malice.
Some abuses were discovered, and exposed with aggravations.
Cavils were made against measures of that Department in the
execution of the laws, and brought the President in collision
with both Houses of Congress. Crawford's newspapers com-
menced and have kept up a course of the most violent abuse
and ribaldry against him, and his projected nomination for the
Presidency has met with scarcely any countenance throughout
the Union. The principal effect of it has been to bring out
Crawford's strength, and thus to promote the interest of the
very man whom he professes alone to oppose. Calhoun now
feels his weakness, but is not cured of his ambition. My per-
sonal intercourse with him now is necessarily an intercourse of
civility, and not of confidence.
nth. Five years have this day passed since Dr. Tillary, by
way of felicitation upon my birthday, congratulated me upon
being between fifty and sixty. I have now turned the half-way
corner. They have been five memorable years of my life, and
certainly the five most laborious of the whole. They have also
been crowned with blessings, for which I am grateful to the
Giver of all good. They have had their trials of many kinds,
among which the severest was the decease of my ever dear
and lamented mother. I am now in the midst of another and
far different trial — a trial for my character before my country.
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44 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July.
It is but one of many which are preparing for me, and through
which I must pass as it shall please Heaven. The caballing
against me is so extensive, and so many leading men in every
part of the Union are engaged in it, that the prospect before
me is not hopeful. This particular plot will in a great measure,
though not entirely, fail. Russell will be disappointed, and
have the public voice against him ; but Clay, for whom Russell
has performed the part of the jackal, will so far gain his point
that it will form a theme for prejudice in the Western and
Southern country against me. I have now the advantage of
Russell entirely in my hands. But the management of my
cause requires discretion and firmness, both in an eminent de-
gree. My cause is the cause of truth and honesty and of my
country. There is hardly a bad passion in the human heart
but is arrayed against me. But in controversies of this kind
success depends much upon the manner in which it is con-
ducted. I have my own errors to dread more than the power
of the adversary. A single false step would ruin me. I need
advice very much, and have no one to advise me. I finished
yesterday the draft of a rejoinder to Russell's publication in
the Boston Statesman of 27th of June. But it replies only to
his false statements of the manner in which his letters were
brought before the House of Representatives ; and is already
so long that it will with difficulty be crowded into one news-
paper. I have so much more to say upon the subject that it
will at least fill another newspaper, and I am apprehensive the
public will grow weary of the subject before it can be fully laid
open to them. I began this morning the draft of the sequel
to my rejoinder.
1 2th. I was at the President's this morning, and he spoke
to me of Mr. Russell's publication in the Boston Statesman of
27th of June, which he said he thought a very feeble thing.
He also told me that since this affair had come to be so notori-
ous, he had been recollecting the circumstances of his receiving
Russell's letter, which had before passed away from his memory.
He now recollected that on receiving it he had been surprised
and embarrassed at its contents. He had shown it to Mr. Madi-
son, then President, and consulted with him what he should do
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with it They were both of opinion that it ought not to be
put upon the files of the Department and thus exposed to be
at some day made public. The publication they thought could
only produce mischief They considered Mr. Russell as a man,
at the time of the Treaty of Ghent, very recently introduced
into the public service, whose advancement had outstripped his
consideration in the public opinion, and who had thought he
could best promote his own views by attaching himself to the
interests and by gaining the friendship of Mr. Clay. As to the
proposal for continuing the right of the British to navigate the
Mississippi, neither Mr. Madison nor he (the President) had
ever thought there was anything objectionable in it. He had
no doubt that the object of bringing forward Russell's letter in
Congress was to produce a prejudice in the Western country,
looking to future events ; but he thought it a very poor expe-
dient, and that it would fail of producing the effect intended
by it.
13th. I received dispatches from Mr. Middleton, our Minister
in Russia, containing the decision of the Emperor upon the
question submitted to him by the Governments of the United
States and of Great Britain as to the construction of that part
of the first article of the Treaty of Ghent which provides for
the evacuation of our territories by the British forces with-
out carrying away any slaves. The decision is in our favor, but
is expressed in language needing explanation more than the
paragraph of the article which was in question. I took the
dispatches to the President's, and proposed to him that the
decision should be published in the National Intelligencer ; of
which he approved.
1 7th.* My rejoinder to Russell was published in the National
Intelligencer of this morning. Mr. George Hay called upon
me, and told me that he had read it through with attention,
and approved altogether its contents. But he intimated that
he thought no further publication by me would be necessary ;
that it was impossible Russell should ever recover or redeem
his character, and that it would be wasting time and words to
put him down lower than he would be after this publication. I
told him that this was my own impression ; that I was aware
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46 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July,
nothing I could henceforth say would affect Russell's character,
and that so far as concerned him I should not wish to add
another word. But his doctrines had not been thoroughly
exposed. The public had not yet looked with much interest
to that part of the discussion, and his sophistications had even
found countenance and support in the public journals in various
parts of the Union. I should, therefore, undertake a thorough
examination and refutation of the doctrines of his letter, which
would require two or three papers, each as long as the one this
day published ; but, as the public soon grow weary of contro-
versies in newspapers, I was not determined as to the mode of
publication which I should adopt.
22d. The newspapers from the neighboring cities notice my
rejoinder to Russell's publication in the Boston Statesman, gen-
erally with approbation. Niles's Register says that one of
his neighbors called it annihilatory ; but, as an enemy cannot be
more than annihilated, a question occurs whether further pub-
lication by me in the newspapers would not be superfluous.
Admonitions to that effect come to me from friend and foe.
26th. I have been this day married twenty-five years. It is
what the Germans call the " Silberne Hochzeit** — the Silver
Wedding. The happiest and most eventful portion of my life
is past in the lapse of those twenty-five years. I finished the
letter to my wife. Looking back — what numberless occasions
of gratitude ! how little room for self-gratulation ! Looking
forward — what dependence upon the overruling Power! what
frail support in myself! "Time and the hour wear through
the roughest day." Let me have strength but to be true to
myself, to my Maker, and to man— adding Christian meekness
and charity to Stoic fortitude — and come what may. •
28th. About two o'clock Mr. Calhoun called, and took us in
his carriage to Mr. Daniel Brent's. The weather was intensely
hot, and the sun beaming unclouded, so that we were about
two hours on the road. We found there Colonel Freeman
and Mr. Pleasanton, Gales and Seaton, Mr. Pearson and his
daughter, and Miss Brent, a daughter of William Brent's. We
had a pleasant dinner, and a little, not much, conversation.
We returned early in the evening to the city. Mr. Calhoun
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said much to me, on the way, of the opposition to the Admin-
istration combined by Mr. Clay and Mr. Crawford, each having
separate views of his own. He spoke also of the absolute
necessity that there should be in this District an independent
newspaper, to expose the intrigues of those gentlemen to the
nation. The City Gazette is known to be under the manage-
ment of Clerks in the Treasury. It has been several months
incessantly scurrilous and abusive upon Calhoun, cautiously
and equivocally so upon me, and, without avowing its devotion
to Crawford, occasionally disclosing it in a manner not to be
mistaken. Its editor is an Englishman, having no character of
his own — penurious and venal — metal to receive any stamp,
and, in his treatment now of Crawford and me, looking like
one of the Tower stamped dollars during the late war — with
George the Third's head struck over that of Charles the
Fourth, and not entirely effacing it. The National Intelli-
gencer is also in subjection both to Clay and Crawford, by
the Act of Congress which Clay carried through, under which
the printers of Congressional documents for every Congress
are chosen by the preceding Congress. Calhoun thinks that
this gave the Speaker of the House absolute control over
the National Intelligencer newspaper, both as a rod over the
heads and a sop for the mouths of its editors ; and he has no
doubt it was Clay's object in carrying the law. By making
them dependent upon Congress, it palsied them at least, as
supporters of the Executive. They incline also from other
motives towards Crawford, and, although uncertain which will
be the strongest side, and therefore wishing to keep themselves
neutral as much as possible, they will, while endeavoring to
avoid direct commitment of themselves, lean as much as they
can in favor both of Crawford and of Clay. An independent
newspaper, therefore, is indispensable, said Calhoun ; and he
asked me what I thought of McKenney's prospectus. I thought
an independent newspaper would be very necessary to make
known the truth to the people, but, I said, I was not acquainted
with Mr. McKenney, and knew nothing of his qualifications for
editing a paper, nor of his independence. His prospectus was
well written, and opened an excellent plan as that which he
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4.8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July,
should pursue. But he must have a heart of oak, nerves of
iron, and a soul of adamant, to carry it through. His first
attempt would bring a hornets* nest upon his head, and, if they
should not sting him to death or blindness, he would have to
pursue his march with them continually swarming over him,
and beset on all sides with slander, obloquy, and probably
assassination.
Calhoun thought this picture highly colored, but admitted
there was reason to foresee a stormy career for McKenney.
I doubt much, however, whether Mr. McKenney's paper will be
independent. I think it originated in the War Office, and will
be Mr. Calhoun's official gazette, as long as it lasts. Whether
it will live through a session of Congress is to be seen ; but
if it fulfils the promise of its prospectus it will pass through
more than fire. It is to be an evening paper, twice a week,
and the first number is to be published the 7th of next month.
Mr. Calhoun evidently considers his future prospects, and even
his continuance in the present Administration, as depending
upon it.
Day. I have been deeply engaged the whole month in my
controversy with Jonathan Russell. I received on the first
day of the month his publication in the • Boston Statesman
of 27th of June, and replied to it in part by a paper in the
National Intelligencer of the 17th. I then promised another;
but in taking up and discussing thoroughly the topics of his
letter of nth of February, 1 81 5, from Paris, I have found it
necessary to write three papers — each of them too long for
publication in one newspaper. I have this day finished the
first draft of the last of those papers. But the arrangement is
yet to be completed, and some additions and some retrench-
ments are to be made. But in the present stage of the con-
troversy the public sentiment is almost universal against
Russell, and very strongly expressed. A volume more in the
newspapers would weaken instead of strengthening that im-
pression; it would look like mangling a fallen enemy. I have
no such inclination, and have no wish to exult over him. But
the doctrines of this letter must be put down. I think of pub-
lishing a pamphlet. The writing of these papers has so totally
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, ^g
absorbed all my morning hours that my diary has been running
the whole month in arrear.
August 3d. There is in the Argus of Western America, a
newspaper published at Frankfort, Kentucky, under date of
the i8th of July, an article, apparently editorial, headed "The
Ghent Mission," which, both from its style and contents, I take
to have been written by Mr. Clay ; but, if not, certainly from
him indirectly. It is bitter upon ** the Secretary," and apolo-
gizes for Clay's having agreed to the Mississippi proposition
upon the plea of the new instructions. It abandons all Russell's
pretences, and says that Clay thought the Government ought
not to have given the instructions. Clay's conduct throughout
this affair towards me has been that of an envious rival — a fel-
low-servant whispering tales into the ear of the common master.
He has been seven years circulating this poison against me in
the West, and I have now no doubt that Russell's letter was
brought forth upon suggestions originating with him. Russell
has all along performed for him the part of a jackal. Clay
seems to have fancied that I should have no means of self-vin-
dication if Russell's letter should be brought before Congress,
and this article in the Argus evidently betrays his vexation and
disappointment at the result.
4th. There is in the Richmond Enquirer of the 2d instant,
which came this day, a Jesuitical and most insidious article
upon the diplomatic controversy. It begins by copying from
the Charleston (South Carolina) Courier an article upon it, very
severe upon Russell, with which it expresses concurrence in
part, but cavils at some comment in it upon Floyd, and insti-
gates Floyd to come out against it. Then it pronounces Rus-
sell decidedly in fault in the quarrel about the duplicate, and
with the same dogmatism pronounces that the proposition made
to the British at Ghent seems to defy all justification; extracts
all the part of the sham editorial article in the Frankfort Argus
which charges the " Secretary," and calls upon me to answer it .
but omits all that part of the same article which contains Clay's
admissions of his having assented and subscribed to the propo-
sition. The main object of the Richmond Enquirer's instigators
in this affair is to blow the coals. They want to bring in Floyd
VOL. VI. — 4
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JO MEATOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August,
and Clay to fall upon me and help out Russell, for, considering
him as already disgraced before the nation, they wish to up-
hold him just enough to assist him in his notable attempt to
disgrace me. At the first explosion of this affair they could
not suppress their exultation at the prospect of two distin-
guished Massachusetts men afoul of each other, and sure both
to lose character by the result. But the burst of public senti-
ment was so quick and so strong against Russell, on the publi-
cation of his duplicate letters and my remarks, that in a few
days the Richmond Enquirer gave out that I had seized with
great ability upon this occasion to make myself a party for the
next Presidential election, for which it declared I was before
quite out of the question. The Richmond Enquirer is the
organ of a great and predominating political party in Virginia.
It is the mainspring for Mr. Crawford's election in that State,
and indeed throughout the Union. It is the very Mrs. Candor
of newspapers, and, under an affectation of impartiality and
liberality, has been, and will be, managed with the most in-
veterate hostility to me. I have concluded to publish the
papers of this controversy in a pamphlet, and have prepared a
paper to be published in the National Intelligencer announcing
this intention.
6th. I sent this morning to Mr. Force, requesting him to call
at the oflfice of the Department of State, which he did. I told
him I proposed to publish a pamphlet containing the message
of the President to the House of Representatives with the
residuary Ghent Treaty documents, the message with the du-
plicate letters and my remarks, Mr. Russell's subsequent pub-
lications in the newspapers relating to this subject, and mine,
with additional papers amounting perhaps to one hundred
pages more. I asked him if he would undertake the publica-
tion at his own expense and risk. He said he would, and I
gave him a printed copy of the Ghent document message to
begin with. He said he would commence the publication in a
few days ; and I engaged to furnish him from time to time with
copy as it should be wanted. Mr. Seaton, of the National In-
telligencer, likewise called, and I gave him the paper which I
had prepared, announcing my purpose of withdrawing the sub-
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ject from the newspapers and of publishing all the documents
in a pamphlet.
7th. My paper was published this morning in the National
Intelligencer. Mr. George Hay called upon me at my house
and expressed his approbation of it, but said there was one
passage in it which, upon a first, second, and third reading, he
had not been able to understand. It presented at the first read-
ing a sense which it was impossible should be intended. He
had finally discerned its meaning, and then had wondered
how he could have had any hesitation about it. The passage
speaks of Russell's letter as having been " trumpeted before-
hand throughout the Union, as fraught with disclosures which
were to blast a reputation worthless in the estimation of its
possessor, if not unsullied." I saw upon examining this sen-
tence that there was something in it not perfectly clear, and
that it would have been better to transpose tlie word *' worth-
less," and say, ** a reputation in the estimation of its possessor
worthless if not unsullied." I told Mr. Hay that I had been
obliged to publish this paper without having the benefit of pre-
vious revisal by a friend, and asked him if he would do me
that favor for the next paper of the collection, for the accuracy
of which I should feel more solicitude. He said he would.
I mentioned to Mr. Hay the disingenuous manner in which the
Richmond Enquirer had republished a part, and suppressed a
part, of the article in the Frankfort Argus of i8th July. He
said I should never experience fairness or candor from the
Richmond Enquirer ; that paper would not resort to positive
falsehood, but they would not give the whole truth.
8th. I received from Mr. C. A. Rodney, the Senator from the
State of Delaware, the second volume of Chalmers's Collection
of Opinions of Eminent Lawyers, containing the opinions of
the attorneys and solicitors-general, at three several periods
after intervening wars, that the Treaty of Neutrality of 1686
was yet in force, though not renewed nor specifically men-
tioned in any of the treaties of peace; also the Advocate-
General Sir James Marryat's opinion and argument upon it in
1765. Rodney has taken an interest in this controversy, as he
told me, from his regard for the memory of Mr. Bayard, who
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52 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [August.
was his fellow-citizen of Delaware, brother at the bar, rival
statesman, and personal friend. He first mentioned to me the
debates in Parliament on the Peace of Amiens, and a few days
since I received a letter from him, speaking of these authorities
in Chalmers's book, and also of a reference to and inference
from them in a volume upon Commercial Law recently pub-
lished by Chitty. He offered me the loan of the books — which
I accepted.
loth. A woman by the name of Bridget Smith came to apply
for a pardon for her brother, the man who is in prison at Boston
for slave-trading. Miss Smith operated with the usual female
weapon, a shower of tears. It seldom fails to disconcert my
philosophy, especially when I see the spring is from the social
affections. Here it was a brother, necessary for the comfort
and subsistence of a mother. I promised to do my best to
obtain his release, though in his own person he has very little
claim to mercy or even to compassion.
1 2th. I received this day a dispatch from R. Rush, with a
printed copy of the Act of Parliament passed the 24th of June
last, opening the ports of the British Colonies in the West
Indies, North and South America, and in the island of New-
foundland, to the vessels of the United States. I took them to
the President's, and mentioned to him the necessity of issuing
a proclamation conformably to the Act of Congress of the last
session, which I promised to prepare and bring to him to-
morrow.
13th. I made a draft of a proclamation opening the ports of
the United States to British vessels from their Colonies, and
took it to the President. I found several difficulties in making
the draft. The Act of Congress of 6th May last authorizes
the President by proclamation to open the ports of the United
States, on certain contingencies, to British vessels employed in
the trade and intercourse between the United States and the
British Colonies or islands in the West Indies, under such
reciprocal rules and restrictions as he may prescribe, anything
in the two Navigation Acts to the contrary notwithstanding.
The British Act of Parliament of 24th June opens certain ports
by name in the West Indies, in North and South America, and
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in Newfoundland, under certain restrictions of duties, and au-
thorizes only the importation directly of articles the growth,
produce, or manufacture of the United States. As the Act of
Congress speaks only of the British Islands or Colonies in the
West Indies, the first question was whether the proclamation
can open our ports to British vessels from Newfoundland, North
and South America, under the general denomination of the
West Indies. If it cannot, it cannot meet the Act of Parlia-
ment, and will be of no effect. I therefore made the draft
opening our ports to vessels from all the ports opened to our
vessels by the Act of Parliament, construing the term West
Indies as used in the Act of Congress in its most extensive
and general sense.
The next question was as to the reciprocal rules and restric-
tions. It occurred to me that under that provision the procla-
mation might exact countervailing duties ; but, as that might
be thought to encroach upon the revenue-raising power, I
thought it would be best to leave it to Congress. To counter-
vail the restriction of direct trade, I limited the importations
from each Colony in British vessels to the productions of that
Colony. I left the draft with the President for his considera-
tion.
14th. I called at the President's, and he returned me the
draft of the proclamation opening our ports to British vessels
from the Colonial ports opened to ours by the Act of Parlia-
ment of 24th June, with a question whether the restriction of
importations in the British vessels to be admitted to articles
the produce of only the Colony from which they directly come
would not be objectionable. He desired me to consider this,
but said he would sign the proclamation as I had drawn it if I
should conclude it would be best. He desired me also to show
it to Mr. Calhoun, the only other head of Department now here,
and to take his advice. I took the draft accordingly this e
ing to Mr. Calhoun's, and read it to him, suggesting the q
tions which had occurred to me in drawing it up. I left it
him, and also a copy of the British Act of Parliament of
June. He will return them to me with his opinion to-moi
morning. I asked him to consider how a restriction upon
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54 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August.
articles to be imported in British vessels, not limited to articles
of the particular Colony from which they come, but to articles
the produce of the British West India Colonies, for vessels
coming from them, and to North American articles, for vessels
from the North American Colonies, would answer.
15th. Mr. Calhoun called after breakfast at my house, and
returned the draft of the proclamation and the copy of the
British Act of Parliament. He thought the restriction last
proposed by me would be more expedient than that limited to
the productions of the particular Colony from which the vessel
comes. As to the question about opening our ports to British
vessels from the North American British Provinces under the
Act of Congress, which names only the West Indies, he ad-
vised me to write to Mr. King, the Senator who, as Chairman
of the Senatorial Committee of Foreign Relations, brought in
the bill and carried it through that body; and to consult him
as to the propriety of extending to the Act that latitude of
construction. I wrote accordingly to Mr. King, mentioning
the questions to him and enclosing the draft of the procla-
mation and the copy of the British Act of Parliament. The
proclamation must of course be for some days delayed.
1 6th. I this day received a letter from C. A. Rodney, the
Senator from Delaware, with a new English authority against
the doctrine that all treaties are abrogated by war. It is the
opinion of Mr. Fox, expressed in Parliament in the debate on
the definitive Treaty of Peace of 1783. And I this day finished
the draft of remarks which I propose to publish in my collec-
tion of documents upon the editorial article in the Argus of
Western America, which I suppose to have been written by
Mr. Clay. Force has begun the printing of the work, and
sends me usually one proof-sheet of eight pages for revisal
each week-day. This, and the necessary writing for the pub-
lication, absorbs all my leisure time and all my faculties.
19th. Answered General Dearborn's letter, and received one
from my wife, chiefly upon an attack against me in one of the
Philadelphia newspapers on account of the negligence of my
dress. It says that I wear neither waistcoat nor cravat, and
sometimes go to church barefoot My wife is much concerned
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at this, and several of my friends at Philadelphia have spoken
to her of it as a serious affair. In the Washington City Gazette,
some person unknown to me has taken the cudgels in my
behalf, and answered the accusation gravely as if the charge
were true. It is true only as regards the cravat, instead of
which, in the extremity of the summer heat, I wear round my
neck a black silk riband. But, even in the falsehoods of this
charge, what I may profitably remember is the perpetual and
malignant watchfulness with which I am observed in my open
day and my secret night, with the deliberate purpose of ex-
posing me to public obloquy or public ridicule. There is
nothing so deep and nothing so shallow which political enmity
will not turn to account. Let it be a warning to me to take
heed to my ways.
23d. Mr. Henry Johnson, the Senator from Louisiana, called
upon me this morning, with Mr. Edward Livingston, of New
Orleans. Livingston is elected a member of the next Congress
from the State of Louisiana, and will probably be one of its
most distinguished members. He is a man of very superior
talents, whose career has been checkered with good and evil,
with right and wrong, perhaps as much as that of any public
man in this country. He is now going to Richmond, Virginia.
He asked me whether I had received a copy of his report to
the Legislature of Louisiana of a project for a criminal code,
which he had sent me. I had, and was much pleased with it.
I told him there were many of its opinions with which I fully
concurred, and some upon which my mind was perhaps not so
clearly made up.
Mr. Calhoun called, and I showed him the answer I had just
received from Mr. R. King, returning my draft of a proclama-
tion opening our ports to British vessels from their American
Colonial ports. Mr. King approves of the liberal construction
we have given to the term West Indies in the Act of Congress
of the last session; and he thinks the more enlarged restriction
of the articles importable in British vessels, of West Indian
articles from the West Indies, and North American articles
from North America, preferable to the narrower limitation of
articles the produce only of the particular Colony from which
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56 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August,
the vessel may come. I altered the draft of the proclamation
accordingly, to be published in the National Intelligencer to-
morrow morning.
26th. The Washington City Gazette has this day come out
for the first time with the Treasury stamp unequivocal upon
its face. It has long been at market, apparently between Mr.
Crawford and me ; really, sold to him years ago, but wishing
also to make its price with me. Wyer told me not long since
that Elliot, the editor, had asked him if I was his friend ; com-
plained that I had given him no jobs of printing lately to do;
said that my objections to his account for printing papers
relating to the census had been only a misunderstanding;
hinted that he could not afford to be my friend for nothing ;
boasted that he had entirely put down Mr. Calhoun's preten-
sions to the Presidency, and considered himself as thereby
serving me ; with a distinct intimation that he could serve me
as he had served Mr. Calhoun. I told Wyer that I had been
obliged to cut down Elliot's account for the census papers for
its extortion, and had then told him that I should give him no
more work at the public charge; that he had not put down
Mr. Calhoun, and if he had, it was not for the purpose of
serving me; and that I should not purchase the services of
any printer, either with public money or my own.
This was but a few days since ; and this day the Gazette
shows its flag. It enumerates also the other newspapers which
it considers as pledged to the same cause ; which is obviously
to give them a signal of mutual intelligence. The organization
of newspaper support for Mr. Crawford throughout the Union
is very extensive, and is managed with much address. De-
mocracy, Economy, and Reform are the watch-words for his
recruiting service — Democracy to be used against me, Economy
against Calhoun, and Reform against both. Calhoun is organ-
izing a counter-system of newspaper artillery, and his Wash-
ington Republican is already working powerfully in his favor.
These engines will counteract each other, but I shall be a mark
for both sides, and, having no counter-fire upon them, what can
happen but that I must fall? This fall may be the happiest
event that could befall me, and I but fervently ask that my
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mind may be disciplined to whatever may betide me, and sup-
ported to the level of higher aims than any political fortune
can reach.
27th. Mr. Calhoun called to make enquiries. He noticed
the decisive manner in which the Washington City Gazette
came out yesterday in favor of Mr. Crawford, and against me.
He has long considered the Gazette as edited from the Treasury
Department, and all the articles in it against him as coming
almost directly from Mr. Crawford himself He says the course
Crawford is now pursuing is precisely the same as he kept in
181 5 and 1 8 1.6, which he had great opportunities of then ob-
serving, as he was of the same mess with two or three of
Crawford's managing partisans. He says that Crawford is a
very singular instance of a man of such character rising to the
eminence he now occupies; that there has not been in the
history of the Union another man with abilities so ordinary,
with services so slender, and so thoroughly corrupt, who has
contrived to make himself a candidate for the Presidency. He
thinks it, however, impossible that he should succeed.
Mr. George Graham was at the theatre ; he has just returned
from a long visit to Kentucky, and says that the people there
have got into excessive ill humor with the General Government,
and a universal passion for Mr. Clay to be the next President;
though they are at the same time in a flame of internal com-
bustion, with stop laws, paper money, and hunting down Judges,
in which Clay is on the unpopular side, which at this time is
the side of justice. At the late election, a decided majority of
the State Legislature has been chosen for removing the Judges
who pronounced the relief laws unconstitutional ; and in the
elections for Congress the candidates opposed to the Adminis-
tration were everywhere elected. Clay himself is one of them.
29th. The Richmond Enquirer of the 27th, which came this
day, contains a letter from John Floyd, the member of the
House of Representatives who moved last session for the
Ghent documents and for Russell's letters to the editors of
that paper, who had instigated it by a stimulant hint in their
paper of the 2d. Floyd is a man having in the main honest
intentions, but with an intellect somewhat obfuscated, violent
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58 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [August,
passions, suspecting dishonesty and corruption in all but him-
self, rashly charging it upon others ; eager for distinction, and
forming gigantic projects upon crude and half-digested informa-
tion. He has a plan for establishing a Territorial Government
at the mouth of Columbia River, and, being leagued with Clay
and Benton of Missouri, made his bill for that purpose the
pretext for moving the call for the Ghent papers, and then for
Russell's letter. Clay, who is at the bottom of it all, has, from
the day after the signature of the Treaty of Ghent, been work-
ing like a mole to undermine me in the West, by representing
me as an enemy to the Western interests, and by misrepresent-
ing the transactions at Ghent in a way to suit that purpose.
Russell's letter of nth February, 1815, was concerted with
Clay, who must have supposed that I should be precluded by
my situation from making any defence, and that the poison
would operate without the counteraction of any antidote. The
mismanagement of Russell blew up their whole plot, and,
Floyd's part in it being partly detected, he himself has been
handled as he deserved in many of the newspaper commen-
taries upon the whole transaction. The Richmond Enquirer,
intent upon bringing out all possible opposition to me, and
knowing the coarseness and insolence of Floyd's hostility, put
forth a provocative to Floyd to come out, and he has come out
accordingly ; at once crafty and ferocious ; pretending self-de-
fence, as if I had injured him — falsely charging me with having
asserted that ke had made himself subservient to Russell's pur-
poses, and then imputing direct falsehood to that assertion —
pretending to take no part in the dispute between Russell and
me, that he may discharge his venom upon me with more effect,
under the color of neutrality. The Washington City Gazette,
in its allegiance to the Treasury, now copies every article
against me, from all quarters of the Union, usually with the
addition of a comment turning it against me and using it as
a lift for Russell.
30th. Floyd's letter was published this morning in the
National Intelligencer. I wrote a very short answer to it for
publication in the same paper to-morrow morning. Among
the absurdities with which Floyd's letter abounds is his at-
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tacking me in the newspapers with a charge that I am seeking
newspaper controversy. I have confined my answer to a direct
denial of having made the assertion which he imputes to me and
declares false, and have fixed the falsehood unanswerably upon
himself. The City Gazette of this afternoon has another insult-
ing paragraph of high panegyric upon Floyd's character, purity
of motives, and veracity, and asserting that his letter puts the
dispute between Russell and me upon an entire new footing.
This is followed by a paragraph hoping that I have not em-
ployed Seth Hunt (as my enemies insinuate) to plot the de-
struction of Mr. Russell's character for a reward in case of
success. This alludes to a charge published in the New York
Statesman, under the signature of "Ariel," charging Russell
with having speculated for pecuniary profit upon information
which he gave to commercial houses at the negotiation of
Ghent. Russell having called upon the publishers for the
name of the author of "Ariel," Hunt wrote to him and avowed
himself as the author, upon which Russell prosecuted him,
both by action and by indictment, and prosecuted also the
publishers of the Statesman. Of all these transactions I have
no knowledge but by the newspapers. There are other para-
graphs in this day's Gazette equally insidious and base, inter-
spersed with encomiums and defences of Crawford, written, as
I have reason to suppose, by a man named Richards, of spotted
character, whom Crawford, knowing him as such, has this
summer taken as a clerk into the Treasury Department. I
note these things as they pass, to indicate for memory hereafter
the situation in which I am placed, the means used to ruin my
character, the agents by whom the machinery is wielded, and
the persons for whom this dirty work is performed. The thing
itself is not new. From the nature of our institutions, the com-
petitors for public favor, and their respective partisans, seek
success by slander upon each other, as you add to the weight
of one scale by taking from that of the other. I disdain this
ignoble mode of warfare, and neither wage it myself nor coun-
tenance it in my friends. But from present appearances it will
decide the succession to the Presidency.
31st. My answer to Floyd's charge was published in the
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6o MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [September,
National Intelligencer this morning, and copied into the even-
ing papers — in the City Gazette with an affected and mawkish
paragraph of commentary, and with other malignant paragraphs
against me.
September 3d. Received dispatches from Mr. Middleton at
St. Petersburg, and from Mr. Forsyth at Madrid. Mr. Middle-
ton gives the substance of a Convention which he has con-
cluded with Sir Charles Bagot, under the mediation of the
Emperor Alexander, for carrying into execution his decision
upon the construction of the first article of the Treaty of Ghent,
relating to slaves. Mr. Forsyth's letters relate chiefly to the
troubles in Spain.
7th. I received some days since a letter from A. Gallatin,
mentioning that he had seen Russell's duplicate, and my re-
marks, and asking me to send him some other papers relating
to the subject, and certain books. He says he has not deter-
mined whether he will write upon it (for the public), and that
if he does it will be with extreme reluctance. I answered his
letter this day, and assured him that there would be no neces-
sity whatever for him to publish anything upon this affair.
There can be no better proof of the purpose for which the
whole machine was set in motion than that, since the facts have
been brought out, not one syllable has been said in any one
newspaper against Gallatin for his part in the Mississippi navi-
gfation and fishery proposal, though it was first offered and
md was neither a favorite of mine nor the
*ly successful in securing the interest for
anced. There are newspapers which still
ilways as my measure, and with the view to
me. In the face of the evidence they im-
tend that Bayard finally declared against it,
wholly out of sight. The whole procedure
ample of artifice by one public man to ruin
mother.
nney came, the editor of the Washington
vished to borrow a file of the New York
\ from the month of May till this time. He
tie a note repeating the request and asking
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l822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 6l
also the loan of a report made by Mr. Crawford in January,
1817. I had not the latter, but sent him a file of the Advocate.
The establishment and progress of this newspaper forms an
epocha in the history of Mr. Monroe's Administration. Mr.
Crawford's party was organized before the close of Mr. Madi-
son's. He was a caucus candidate in 1816 against Mr. Monroe,
and had then the address ostensibly to decline opposing Mr.
Monroe, seeming to sacrifice his own pretensions in his favor,
so as to secure a seat in the Administration under him, during
which he has been incessantly engaged in preparing the way
to succeed him. Among the most powerful of his agents have
been the editors of the leading newspapers. The National In-
telligencer is secured to him by the belief of the editors that
he will be the successful candidate, and by their dependence
upon the printing of Congress; the Richmond Enquirer,
because he is a Virginian and a slave-holder; the National
Advocate of New York, through Van Buren ; the Boston
Statesman and Portland Argus, through William King; the
Democratic Press, of Philadelphia, because I transferred the
printing of the laws from that paper to the Franklin Ga-
zette ; and several other presses in various parts of the Union
upon principles alike selfish and sordid. Most of these papers
have signals by which they understand one another, and the
signal at Washington is given by the City Gazette, which
has been re-secured since Irvine ceased to be its joint editor,
and which from time to time gives notice of the newspapers
which are successively induced to join in the train. All
this has been going on successfully for some months past,
with little counteraction of any kind till the establishment of
the Washington Republican. That paper began by a suc-
cession of seven numbers addressed to the people of the
United States, in which the course of Mr. Crawford's manage-
ment is very distinctly laid open, and its character vigorously
exposed. It has already manifestly disordered the composure
of Mr. Crawford's editorial phalanx. The Intelligencer has
ventured a slight skirmish in his favor. The Advocate, the
Boston Statesman, and the Richmond Enquirer have attacked
McKenney with personalities and menaces. The City Gazette
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62 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [September,
has said nothing of him till this day. On Saturday, Elliot
acknowledged the receipt of an anonymous communication,
styled ** Instructions to Office Hunters," and refused to print
it without having the name of the author. This day it ap-
peared under the title of " Extracts from Instructions to Polit-
ical Beginners," headed By the words, Help! Help! Help! and
then reprinting as ** From the Washington Republican of the
7th inst, edited by Calhoun and McKenney," a notice in that
paper calling for payment of subscriptions. The instructions
profess to be after the manner of Dean Swift, but they are imi-
tations only of his vulgarity and venom, without any of his wit
They are infamously scurrilous and abusive, not only upon Mr.
Calhoun, but upon his mother-in-law. This is Mr. Crawford's
mode of defensive warfare.
nth. I am yet proceeding with the proof-sheets of my
pamphlet, the printing of which is nearly completed. In the
National Intelligencer yesterday was republished from the
Boston Patriot of the 4th a letter from Mr. Fuller, contradict-
ing the assertion of Floyd, that I had procured him to renew
the call of the House of Representatives for Russell's letter,
from which Floyd had desisted. These papers I shall include in
my publication. The Washington Republican this day replies to
the National Intelligencer's defence of Mr. Crawford by a long
article presenting a comparative view of the reductions of ex-
penditure in the War, Navy, and Treasury Departments, show-
ing that of them all the Treasury has the least pretension to
boast of its economy. It has also an article in reply to a very
foolish one of the National Advocate, which denied the exist-
ence of any opposition to Mr. Monroe's Administration, de-
clared that he had faithfully and zealously discharged his duties
as President of the United States, but that he had a private
account to settle with the Democratic party, which must now
go on by the election of a suitable President for his successor.
The shamelessness with which this principle is advanced, that
the President, by faithfully performing his duty as Chief Magis-
trate of the nation, has violated his allegiance to the party
which brought him into power, and that therefore a successor
to him must be chosen who will violate his duty to the whole
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nation by exclusively favoring his own party, is characteristic
of the electioneering in favor of Mr. Crawford.
1 2th. Edward Wyer came, and renewed with great earnest-
ness the promise he had made me on the 2d of this month, to
see me again on or before the 15th. He told me this day that
a person not friendly to me had told him that he had examined
with the strictest scrutiny my accounts at the Treasury, with
the expectation of finding in them something against me ; but
he had been disappointed. They were perfectly correct, and
he was very sorry for it. I asked him who it was ; but he de-
clined telling me. I have long believed that this was one of
the machines to be used against me for electioneering purposes,
and that Mr. Crawford has had it among the ways and means
of his Presidential canvass. The person who made this con-
fession to Wyer I have no doubt was one of Crawford's sub-
alterns, probably a Treasury Clerk, and Wyer, after telling it
to me, to show how much secret information he could give,
was afraid to tell me the name of the person, lest he should
make enemies to himself This is one of- many incidents show-
ing the system of espionage which Crawford keeps on foot over
his colleagues, and the means which he is willing to use to
depress them. My accounts were kept five years unsettled
upon a cavil without foundation in law or justice. I was all
but entrapped last winter into a report to Congress, which
would have given a handle against me, which was prepared at
the Treasury, and of which it was with the utmost difficulty
that I obtained the rectification; and now I have it in proof
that there is a person having access to all the Treasury docu-
ments, mousing for errors in my accounts upon which to raise
a popular clamor against me.
14th. The newspaper war between the presses of Mr. Craw-
ford and Mr. Calhoun waxes warm. This day the City Gazette
has three columns of brevier type of the foulest abuse upon
McKenney, and upon Mr. Calhoun personally — first in a long
editorial article, and then in copious extracts from the National
Advocate and Boston Statesman. The exposure already made,
and the development further threatened by the Washington Re-
publican, of Crawford's practices and those of his partisans, has
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64 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [September.
thrown them into a paroxysm of rage, and their only attempt
to meet these charges hitherto has been by personal invective
and menace. The Republican replies this evening with firmness
and moderation to the National Advocate and Boston States-
man, and reviews its own progress hitherto. If this press is
not soon put down. Mr. Crawford has an ordeal to pass through
before he reaches the Presidency which will test his merit and
pretensions as well as the character of the nation. As yet, not
much notice is taken of the Washington Republican and its
disclosures, excepting by the fury of Crawford's presses. His
party is so strong, and they have such a ruffian-like manner of
bearing down opposition, that impartial and disinterested per-
sons are intimidated ; browbeating is among the choicest expe-
dients of his partisans. The progress of this conflict will be a
very curious subject of observation, and its result important to
the history of the Union.
17th. I received a note from the President, calling a meeting
of the members of the Administration at one o'clock this day,
with letters from Lieutenant Gregory, commander of the United
States schooner Grampus, to the Secretary of the Navy, con-
taining an account of the capture by him of the Spanish priva-
teer Panchita, or Palmyra, from Porto Rico. I attended at the
President's accordingly. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Wirt were also
there, being the only other members of the Administration in
the city. The letters of Lieutenant Gregory had been read by
us all, and the President proposed the question whether any
measure of the Administration would be necessary in conse-
quence of this capture. Mr. Calhoun said he thought that
from Lieutenant Gregory's letter the justification for the cap-
ture of the Spanish privateer was rather slender; but I observed
that according to my recollection of the laws it had been
strictly legal. I then recurred to the Act of Congress of 3d
March, 18 19, to protect the commerce of the United States
and punish the crime of piracy, continued by the Act of 15th
May, 1820. I read the second and third sections of the Act.
The capture was made under instructions given by virtue of
the second section. It authorizes the President to issue instruc-
tions to our naval officers to capture and send in any armed
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vessel which shall have attempted or committed 2iny piratical
aggression upon any vessel of the United States or any other
vessel. Mr. Calhoun enquired whether any aggression by a
vessel bearing a lawful commission could be denominated
piratical. I thought there was no doubt it could, and the
third section of the Act under consideration, which authorizes
merchant vessels to defend themselves against aggressions of
any vessel other than public armed vessels, taken in connec-
tion with the second, which makes no such distinction, shows
that the Act itself considers piratical aggressions as liable to
be committed by public armed vessels as well as others. Mr.
Calhoun understood them in the same manner. The President
sent to the Navy Department for a copy of the instructions
given under the Act of 3d March, 18 19, and when they were
produced it was found that, although they fell rather short of
the authority given by the Act, they yet fully justified the
capture of the Panchita by Lieutenant Gregory. I mentioned
the discussions at the Cabinet meeting when these instruc-
tions were to be prepared, which were recollected both by the
President and Mr. Calhoun. (See Diary for i6th and i8th
March, 18 19.)* I gave Mr. Wirt the letter from Mr. Pedersen,
the Danish Minister, claiming the delivery of the fugitive slave
from St. Croix, requesting his written opinion upon two points
— first, whether the President has Constitutional authority to
deliver up the slave ; and, secondly, if he has, in what manner
it can be legally carried into effect.
2 1st. The President went to his seat at Oakhill, near Aldie,
Loudoun County, Virginia. Mr. Force came and took the last
sheet of my proposed pamphlet, with the title-page, table of con-
tents, and errata, all of which I have prepared, and which have
occupied so fully since the ist of July all the time that I could
spare from the indispensable duties of my office, that my diary
has in the interval been running into long arrears. Between
the 26th and 29th of August, having finished the controversy
with Russell, I resumed my diary, and brought it up to the
6th of July ; but when Mr. Floyd took the field under a new
mask, with a desperate lunge at me, under color of neutrality
» Vol. iv. pp. 298-303.
VOL. VI.— 5
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66 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [September.
I thought it necessary to strip the mask from him too. The
editorial article of the Kentucky Argus is by or from Clay,
and, as he fights under cover, I have adapted the defence to
the attack. Force says the book will be published on Monday.
I now dismiss it to its fate.' The Washington Republican
and City Gazette — War and Treasury Departments — are yet in
deadly conflict, but with such unequal force, all reason, argu-
ment, and demonstration on one side, and all scurrility and
billingsgate on the other, that the National Intelligencer has
been compelled to step in to the relief of the Treasury — the
editors, by some shuffling and equivocating paragraphs, pro-
fessing the intention not to meddle with the controversy ; and
now by a formal communication, signed ** A Near Observer,"
almost avowedly from the Treasury, and supposed to be writ-
ten by Asbury Dickens, a favorite Clerk in that Department.
This is the only attempt hitherto at answering argumentatively
the Washington Republican. But Noah, the editor of the New
York National Advocate, has discovered that some of McKen-
ney's printed proposals for publishing his paper were trans-
mitted, franked by the Paymaster and Adjutant-General, and
charges this as a violation of the franking privilege and a fraud
upon the post-office. McKenney this day admits that some of
his proposals were thus transmitted, with a sort of farewell
letter, to persons with whom he had corresponded as Indian
Agent, privileged to frank ; but says that as soon as this was
made known to Mr. Calhoun he disapproved it, and directed
its discontinuance. The City Gazette makes a great outcry
about this incident, which is of more importance as it shows
the intimacy between the War Office and the Washington
Republican, than in any other light.
23d. Mr. George Hay called, and mentioned certain recent
publications respecting the notorious Newburgh letters, circu-
lated in March, 1783, instigating the army to mutiny. The
' This makes a volume of two hundred and fifty-six pages, 8vo, bearing the fol-
lowing title: The Duplicate Letters, the Fisheries, and the Mississippi. Docu-
ments relating to Transactions at the Negotiation of Ghent : collected and published
by John Quincy Adams, one of the Commissioners of the United Slates at that
Negotiation. 1822.
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. (yj
author of them has always been supposed to be John Arm-
strong, a man variously distinguished in our later history, who
has never explicitly avowed or disowned them publicly, but
who, as William Lee told me, printed them while at Paris in
a pamphlet, and distributed them among his acquaintances as
his own. He then gave one of them to Lee himself. Judge
William Johnson, in his recently published sketches of the Life
of General Greene, calls in question Armstrong's authorship of
these letters, as far beyond his ability, and attributes them to
Gouverneur Morris. Since then, and within these few days,
a paragraph has been current in the newspapers, seemingly,
though not avowedly, from Armstrong himself, introducing a
letter purporting to have been written by President Washington
in 1793 to Armstrong. Mr. Hay asked me if I had seen it this
morning in the Alexandria Herald. I had not seen that paper,
but had seen it lately in other newspapers. Mr. Hay asked if
I had ever heard of that letter before. I had heard there was
such a letter, but have no distinct recollection when or where.
The letter purports to have been written 23d February, 1793,
and is now stated, on belief, as having been first published in
1803. It is a declaratory certificate, that, in writing his address
to the army on the occasion of the Newburgh letters, General
Washington did not regard Mr. Armstrong as the author of
those letters, and, further, that he had since had reason for be-
lieving that the object of the author was just, honorable, and
friendly to the country, although the means suggested by him
were certainly liable to misunderstanding and abuse. And the
reason alleged for giving this certificate is, the belief that there
might be times and occasions when the writer's opinion of the
anonymous letters as delivered to the army in 1783 might be
turned to some personal and malignant purpose. Hay said he
believed that this letter was a forgery. It was impossible that
General Washington should ever have written such a letter, or
ever have certified that he had reason to believe that the object
of the incendiary of Newburgh was just, honorable, and friendly
to the country.* I told Hay I was afraid that he had ; as it
« This letter, bearing the date of 23d February, 1797, has been inserted in lh«
Appendix to the twelfth volume of Sparks's Collection of the Writings of Wash-
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68 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [September,
was unquestionable that Mr. Jefferson had nominated the incen-
diary to foreign missions of the highest trust. As a member
of the Senate, I had voted against that nomination, alleging
distinctly as my reason that Mr. Armstrong was known to be
the author of the Newburgh letters. Others voted against him
for other reasons — no one alleged that; and the nomination
was confirmed by the casting vote of the Vice-President. I told
Hay that I still believed Armstrong to be the author of the
Newburgh letters; that I believed it impossible that their ob-
ject should have been just, honorable, or friendly to the coun-
try; that I believed Armstrong to be one of the ablest writers
and most unprincipled public men that this country had ever
produced ; and that General Washington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr.
Madison, George Clinton, the Senate of the United States, and
the Legislature of New York, all of whom had at various
times and in divers manners concurred in appointing him to
great public trusts, had indulgently overlooked the depravity
of the Newburgh letters, or attributed them to a youthful ex-
cess of an ambitious spirit afterwards chastised by experience
into honor and honesty. I had myself been willing for some
time to cherish such hopes, but Mr. Armstrong's public life has
been but too clearly marked with the stamp of the Newburgh
letters; and I thought Judge Johnson*s suggestion, that they
were written by Gouverneur Morris, very feebly supported by
his evidence. Hay said he thought so too. But he could not
believe General Washington had ever written this letter, and he
mentioned reasons for disbelieving it : that no mention of it was
made in Marshall's life of him; that his signature as printed in
the newspaper was not like that habitually used by the General ;
and that it was impossible he should have entertained the senti-
ment expressed in it. Mr. Hay has, I think, particular motives
for these enquiries.
T »-eceived dispatches from Mr. Rush, at London, and from
'orsyth, at Madrid. Mr. Rush sends a copy of the Con-
)n lately concluded by Mr. Middleton at St. Petersburg.
article •' Newburgh Addresses." The argument for its genuineness seems
jrtified by the tone of two earlier ones in 1791 and 1792, in the tenth vohime
same collection.
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, (^
Mr. Forsyth gives an account of the convulsive political state
of Spain. Mr. Calhoun called at the office, and I gave him
Rush's dispatch to take home with him.
24th. Mr. Calhoun brought me back Mr. Rush's dispatch,
and said there had been a good deal of parade in the transac-
tions of this business at St. Petersburg — an observation which
disclosed a feeling not exactly suited to the occasion. The
Convention proposes that eventually an average value should
be paid for the slaves carried away. Mr. Calhoun said, if that
meant one average value for each slave upon the whole number,
it would not be satisfactory nor just. The price of slaves in-
creasing from North to South, the sufferers in Maryland and
Virginia would be overpaid, while those in Carolina, Georgia,
and Louisiana would not be indemnified.
I said I did not suppose it would be necessary to strike one
and the same average for the whole, but a separate one per-
haps for each State where the losses had been sustained.
25th. The War Office and Treasury war continues to rage.
There is a long reply to the " Near Observer" in the Washington
Republican of this evening, and the City Gazette is filled with
columns of abuse upon Mr. Calhoun and McKenney, and with
republished scraps against me; for it republishes from every
newspaper in the Union everything that appears in the shape
of an attack upon me.
26th. The President sent me a letter from P. S. Duponceau,
of Philadelphia, to General John Mason, of Georgetown, in-
forming him of a certain Mr. Sanchez, from the Havanna,
recommendo^ to Duponceau by a French officer, who served
in the late war, at New Orleans, now at the Havanna. San-
chez comes as a secret Agent from a number of the principal
inhabitants of the place, who have formed the plan of declaring
the island independent of Spain and are desirous of being ad-
mitted as a State into the American Union. The object of
the mission of Mr. Sanchez is, to enquire if the Government
of the United States will concur with them in that object. The
plan is represented as already so far matured that they want
nothing but the assurance of being seconded from this country
to act immediately. The President desired that Duponceau's
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jQ MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [September.
letter might be passed to Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Wirt, and
directed a meeting at his house to-morrow.
27th. Received a note from the President, calling the meeting
of the Administration at one o'clock. At the office I found a
dispatch from R. Rush, with the information that on the 12th
of August the Marquis of Londonderry, the British Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, committed suicide by cutting his
throat with a small penknife — "with a bare bodkin." His
mind was like the cable that drew up the frigate at the navy-
yard upon the inclined plane — stretched till it snapped.
Attended at the President's at one o'clock. Mr. Calhoun
only was there, Mr. Wirt being unwell and not able to attend.
The proposition of Mr. Sanchez, as disclosed in Mr. Dupon-
ceau's letter to General Mason, was discussed. There was also
a second letter, explanatory of the first, and more strictly con-
fidential. The question was discussed what was to be done.
Mr. Calhoun has a most ardent desire that the island of Cuba
should become a part of the United States, and says that Mr.
Jefferson has the same. There are two dangers to be averted
by that event : one, that the island should fall into the hands of
Great Britain; the other, that it should be revolutionized by
the negroes. Calhoun says Mr. Jefferson told him two years
ago that we ought, at the first possible opportunity, to take
Cuba, though at the cost of a war with England; but as we
are not now prepared for this, and as our great object must be
to gain time, he thought we should answer this overture by
dissuading them from their present purpose, and urging them
to adhere at present to their connection with Spaia.
I thought it advisable to take a different course; to give
them no advice whatever; to say that the Executive of the
United States is not competent to promise them admission as
a State into the Union ; and that if it were, the proposal is of
a nature which our relations of amity with Spain would not
permit us to countenance.
Mr. Calhoun suggested that it would be proper for the Presi-
dent to make it a subject of a confidential communication to
Congress at their next session, and he objected that if much
stress should be laid upon our relations with Spain, as forbid-
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ding our acceptance of the proposal, it might be considered
as indirect instigation to the declaration of independence, in-
asmuch as that would release us from the obligation of con-
sidering it as involving any of the rights of Spain.
I replied that there would be no possibility of proceeding in
the business by confidential communication to Congress : first,
because there has not been one message with closed doors
during the present Administration, nor, I believe, since the
peace — the very notice of a secret session would raise an
insatiate curiosity throughout the nation to know what could
be its object ; and, secondly, the proposal was of a nature which
would not admit of secrecy. The power of Congress itself to
act upon it was questionable. It involved external war and
internal revolution in its essential and inevitable consequences.
It would neither be possible nor proper that such business
should be transacted by secret sessions of Congress. The
whole affair would be divulged in a week — perhaps in a day.
All Europe, as well as America, would have notice of it,
and the very communication of the proposal to Congress as
a subject for their deliberations, by the President, might be
taken by Spain as hostility to her, and give warning to Great
Britain to take an immediate and determined stand against it.
As to taking Cuba at the cost of a war with Great Britain, it
would be well to enquire, before undertaking such a war, how
it would be likely to terminate ; and for the present, and for a
long time to come, I held it for certain that a war with Great
Britain for Cuba would result in her possession of that island,
and not ours. In the present relative situation of our maritime
forces, we could not maintain a war against Great Britain for
Cuba. Nor did I think that a plain, distinct answer, that our
relations with Spain forbid our encouragement of a proposal
to annex one of her Colonies to our own Union, could be con-
strued into an instigation to revolt. It was a reference to a
plain principle of moral duty, expressly applicable to the case,
suitable to be acted upon as a motive, and honorable to the
good faith of the nation. I would give them at the same time
to understand that the Government of the United States enter-
tain the most friendly sentiments towards the inhabitants of
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72 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [September,
Cuba, and are fully aware of the common interests which point
to a most intimate connection between them and the United
States. But to advise them to cling to their connection with
Spain would expose them to be transferred to Great Britain by
Spain, of which there is double danger : first, by the present
revolutionary government of Spain, to purchase support against
the Holy Alliance; and, secondly, by Ferdirfand, to purchase
the aid of Great Britain to consummate a counter-revolution
in his favor. Now, by advising the people of Cuba to adhere
to Spain we expose them to both these dangers ; and if the
transfer should be made, they would charge the result upon
us, and a heavy responsibility for the consequence would bear
upon us for such ill-judged interposition.
Mr. Calhoun said he inclined to think there would be no
immediate danger of a transfer of the island to Great Britain.
The President directed an adjourned meeting for to-morrow.
30th. I attended the Cabinet meeting at the President's. Mr.
Calhoun and Mr. Wirt were there. The letters from Duponceau
to General Mason, and the proposals of Mr. Sanchez, were
again discussed. The proposition is, that the people of Cuba
should immediately declare themselves independent of Spain
without any co-operation of the United States, and then ask
admission to the Confederation as one of the States of the
Union. By his first letter, Duponceau had understood the
offer to be that they should come in as Louisiana had been
received — to be governed first as a Territory, and afterwards
admitted as one or more States. The second letter rectifies
this error. They ask admission at once; as one State, with
full interior sovereignty of its own. I doubted the authority
not only of the Executive, but of Congress, to perform this.
Mr. Calhoun thought the case of Louisiana had settled the
Constitutional question. But a transaction which should make
an island separated from this continent by the ocean at once a
member of the Union, with a representation in both Houses of
Congress, would certainly be an act of more transcendent power
than a mere purchase of territory contiguous to our own. I
observed, also, that we had not sufficient foundation for present-
ing the proposal to Congress ii) any shape. We had nothing
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but Mr. Sanchez's word that he had authority from any one.
We knew not from whom his authority came, nor how it had
been given him. We knew not how far the project had been
matured, nor what were its prospects of success. More in-
formation upon all this would be necessary before we could
take a step of any kind in an affair of deeper importance and
greater magnitude than had occurred since the establishment
of our Independence.
It was concluded that the answer to Mr. Sanchez must be
negative as to giving any encouragement to the revolutionary
movement; but Mr. Calhoun thought we should dissuade them
from it. I observed that whatever answer we should give must
be one which we must be prepared to see divulged. We must
not expect it will be kept secret; whatever General Mason
writes to Duponceau he will make known to Sanchez, and
Sanchez to his constituents, whoever they may be. It is said
that the project has been long in agitation, and is even much
discussed publicly at the Havanna. The control of the secret
will not be in our power, and even if it should be faithfully
kept, we must answer as if it would not. There was a pro-
posal that General Mason should separately answer one of
Duponceau's letters — one for communication to Sanchez as
our answer, and the other as suggestions to be made to
him through Duponceau as from General Mason himself I
thought this would make no difference ; so far as secrecy was
the object, whatever should go from the Government would
be known to go from the Government, however enveloped
in forms. Mr. Wirt made a short draft of what he thought
might be given to General Mason for an answer to Dupon-
ceau, and which, after some discussion, the President said
he would keep, and prepare a draft from it to be considered
to-morrow.
October 1st. Received a note from the President, desiring
the members of the Administration to meet at his house at
eleven o'clock. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Wirt were there. The
President had prepared answers for General Mason to return
to both Mr. Duponceau's letters. The substance of them
was, that he was sure the Government as well as the people
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74 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [October,
of the United States entertained the most friendly sentiments
towards the people of Cuba, and felt the most lively interest
in their welfare ; but that their relations with Spain did not
admit of their forming any engagements, in the present state
of things, such as were implied in the proposals of Mr, San-
xhez ; and that the Executive Government would not in any
event be competent to form them without the concurrence of
Congress.
The more secret letter suggested, as General Mason's own
idea, that it would be well for Mr. Sanchez to give information
more explicit and precise of the authority by which he acted ;
whence it came, who were the persons concerned in the project,
how far it was matured, and what means and resources they
had for accomplishing their purpose.
I suggested the expediency that General Mason should fur-
nish copies both of Mr. Duponceau's letters and of the answers;
to which the President said he would attend.
Mr. Wirt gave a written opinion in the case of the Danish
slave, which was, that the President had power to deliver him
up. I asked him where he found the grant of the power in the
Constitution. He said it was in the general instruction to take
care that the laws should be faithfully executed. I said that
in his opinion that the President could not deliver up a pirate
he did not admit that doctrine; where did he find it now? He
said, laughing, that he took it from me. But his opinion as to
the mode in which the delivery is to be effected was altogether
nugatory. It presumes that the President might order the
Marshal to take the man and deliver him over to the Danish
Minister without ceremony; but he recommends that the Gov-
ernor of New York should be written to, and invited to deliver
up the man.
I said that I should ask to be excused from writing either
the order to the Marshal or the letter to the Governor of New
York ; for I was convinced that in the first case, if the Marshal
should obey the order, the man would be taken out of his cus-
tody by habeas corpus, and very probably he himself be prose-
cuted in a State Court for false imprisonment, by the Manumis-
sion Society; and in the second, we should have an answer
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from the Governor of New York, not 6nly refusing to deliver
up the man, but subjoining a commentary upon the demand,
which would be anything other than palatable.
Mr. Wirt said that this subject was quite as much political
as legal ; and he wished the President would take other opinions
as well as his. The truth is, that between his Virginian aver-
sion to constructive powers, his Virginian devotion to State
rights, and his Virginian autocracy against slaves, his two
opinions form the most absurd jumble of self-contradictions
that could be imagined. If the President has not power to
deliver up a pirate, he cannot possibly have power to deliver
up a slave. Mr. Calhoun agreed entirely with Mr. Wirt as to
the power of the President in the case of fugitive slaves, but
felt more the difficulty of carrying it into execution. Calhoun
has no petty scruples about constructive powers and State
rights.' His opinions are at least consistent. I have no doubt
that by the Constitution the President has the power; but
perhaps a law of Congress may be necessary, providing the
process by which the power should be exercised. ^Despotism
itself would be startled at Wirt*s opinion, that the Marshal,
under a bare order from the President, through the Secretary
of State, should have power to seize a man without judge or
jury, pack him on board ship and send him out of the country
like a bag of cotton. An invitation to the Governor of New
York to do the same thing is not less absurd.
The President said he would take time to reflect upon the
subject before coming to his determination. He left the city
for his seat in Albemarle County immediately after the meeting.
5th. Mr. G. W. Erving called on his return from visiting
Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison in Virginia. He is going
shortly to Philadelphia. He gave me his opinion of the late
Lord Londonderry, of the Baron de Neuville, and the Cheva-
lier de Onis, not altogether concurring with mine. I think
better of the two former than he does. It is not easy to esti-
mate accurately the moral character of public men. Their
reputation is always made up of a composition by friends and
foes ; all discolored by favor and by hatred. There is a dis-
» This remark appears singular in the view of Mr. Calhoun*s later history.
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yf^ MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [October.
position to believe rather the ill than the good that is said of
them ; virtue is never presumed, and seldom credited, by or in
political adversaries.
Mr. Calhoun brought me home from the funeral of Mr. Law.
We had some conversation upon the quarrel between Colonel
Cumming, of Georgia, and Mr. McDuffie, the member of Con-
gress from South Carolina, Calhoun's protege, friend, and par-
tisan. This feud has become a sort of historical incident. It
originated in the rivalry between Crawford and Calhoun for
the Presidential succession ; began by some vulgar abuse upon
each other in newspapers, in consequence of which Cumming
challenged McDuffie before the last session of Congress, and
came here last winter during the session to fight him. The
meeting was then postponed to thirty days after the close of
the session of Congress, when they met, and McDuffie was shot
in the back. They then returned to the war of newspaper
ribaldry, till Cumming challenged him a second time. By
double manoeuvring on both sides about the time, place, and
circumstances of meeting, the second duel was avoided, and
each party resorted again to hand-bills, posting, newspaper
proclamations of imputed cowardice, and pamphleteering. The
seconds, surgeons, and others have got involved in the dispute,
and all have become the laughing-stock of the public through-
out the Union, except in South Carolina and Georgia, where
the parties are feasted and toasted "alive or dead.** Never was
such a burlesque upon duels since the practice existed. Both
parties were considered as unerring shots, and there was, before
they fought, much ludicrous lamentation in the presage that
they would both be killed. From the contradictory state-
ments of both parties, it appears that it has been on the part
of Cumming a deliberate and determined purpose of assassi-
nation, founded on a confidence in his own shooting, joined to
a belief of McDuffie's want of nerve to meet the occasion
without disabling trepidation ; and, on the part of McDuffie,
a faltering resolution, shrinking both from the fight and the
refusal to fight ; dragged into the field against his will and
without just cause, behaving equivocally upon it, making and
snatching at pretences to withdraw from it, boasting of his
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own firmness against the evidence of facts, and covering his
retreat by charging cowardice upon his antagonist. Calhoun
does not talk of it with pleasure, but says Gumming isi subject
to hereditary insanity from his mother. He told me that Gen-
eral Jackson would certainly come to the next Gongress in the
place of N. Gannon.
7th. Received a letter from George M. Dallas, of Philadel-
phia, enclosing a copy of the oration which I delivered on the
17th of July, 1787, at Commencement, upon taking my degree
of Bachelor of Arts. He says he found it among some of his
late father's papers, but does not know how it came there. Nor
do I ; but it is the copy which, at the request of the late Dr.
Belknap, I furnished him for publication in a monthly maga-
zine, then published at Philadelphia, and it was printed in the
number for the month of September, 1787. I little thought of
ever seeing the manuscript again ; but the delivery of the oration
was one of the most memorable events of my life. The inci-
dents attending it were of a nature to make a deep impression
upon my mind. The appointment to deliver it was itself a high
distinction. Yet it was but the second honor of the class, and
he who took the first, the preferred rival, sunk at the age of
thirty-five, to be forgotten. I re-perused this production now
with humiliation ; to think how proud of it I was then, and
how much I must blush for it now !
8th. Mr. H. Johnson, the Senator from Louisiana, came, and
I read to him the copy received from Mr. Rush of the Conven-
tion concluded at St. Petersburg last July by Mr. Middleton
and Sir Charles Bagot, under the Russian mediation, to carry
into effect the Emperor's decision upon the contested construc-
tion of the provision in the first article of the Treaty of Ghent,
against the carrying away of slaves. Johnson made the same
objection against the assumption of an average value for the
slaves as had been taken by Mr. Calhoun, who has probably
suggested it to him.
13th. Heard Mr. Little preach the funeral sermon upon the
death of Mr. John Law. His text was ist Corinthians xv. 26:
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." This is
the chapter in which the immortality of the soul and the resur-
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78 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [October,
rection of the dead is argued to all the reason and urged to
all the feelings of human nature with the deepest logic and
sublimest eloquence of St. Paul. I am always profoundly af-
fected by the perusal of this chapter. Mr. Little's comment
upon it was sensible and temperate. Death and immortality
are topics never unsuitable nor exhaustible to a teacher of
religion and morality. He noticed but slightly Mr. Law him-
self, though in appropriate terms ; and he spoke also of the
decease of Mr. Young. They were both members of his
religious society, and had both taken much interest in its
formation, and in the erection of the church. He gave notice
that there would be no afternoon service, but that the funeral
of Mr. Young would be at four in the afternoon. At the close
of the service Pope's ** Dying Christian to his Soul" was sung
as an anthem, with the accompaniment of the organ, and with
much effect. This ode is exquisitely beautiful, though most
singularly compounded of five half-ludicrous Latin lines, said
to have been spoken by the Emperor Hadrian at the article of
death, of Sappho's fiery lyric ode, and of that triumphant and
transporting apostrophe of St. Paul in the fifty-fifth verse of
this fifteenth chapter of Corinthians : ** O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" From these materials,
upon a suggestion and at the request of Steele, Pope wrote
this truly seraphic song, to be set to music. In comparing it
with the lines of Hadrian, I see the effect of the Christian doc-
trines upon the idea of death. Pope contends that there is
nothing trifling, or even gay, in the lines of Hadrian ; but his
imagination leads his judgment astray. The heathen philoso-
phers taught that death was to be met with indifference, and
Hadrian attempted to carry this doctrine into practice by joking
at his own death while in its agonies. Yet the thought of what
was to become of his soul was grave and serious, and his idea
of its future state was that of darkness and gloom. The char-
acter of his lines, therefore, is a singular mixture of levity and
sadness, the spirit of which appears to me to be lost in Pope's
translation of them, given in a letter to Steele. I set down the
lines here, with a translation of them as literal and as much in
their spirit as I can make them.
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Animula, vagula, blandula,
Hospes comesque corporis,
Quze nunc abibis in loca ?
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nee (ut soles) dabis joca !
Dear, fluttering, flattering little soul,
Partner and inmate of this clay,
Oh, whither art thou now to stroll?
Pale, shivering, naked little droll.
No more thy wonted jokes to play !
Pope insists that the diminutives are epithets not of levity,
but of endearment. They are significant of both, and the repe-
tition of them, with the rhyme of " loca'' and ''joca' in Latin
verses of that age, decisively marks the merriment of affected
indifference. In the process of the correspondence, Steele de-
sired Pope to make an ode as of a cheerful dying spirit; that
is to say, the Emperor Hadrian's "Animula, vagula," put into
two or three stanzas- for music. This hint was Pope's inspira-
tion. He made the cheerful dying spirit a Christian^ and
cheerful death then became the moment of triumphant exulta-
tion, and the song is, as it were, the song of an angel. I was
deeply moved at its performance.
2 1st. Home between foUr and five o'clock to an early dinner,
to attend the evening exhibition of ** Mr. Mathews at Home."
The doors of the theatre were advertised to be opened at a
quarter before six, and the performance to begin at a quarter
before seven. We went near half an hour before the doors
opened, and were standing, ladies and gentlemen in a crowd,
waiting for admission to the audience of Mr. Mathews. When
the door was at length forced open, the house was full to over-
flow in the space of time necessary for occupying all the seats.
The performances were " The Trip to Paris," and " The Dili-
gence.'* Mathews, the sole performer, personated in the course
of the evening ten or twelve characters, male and female, with
varieties of voice and countenance scarcely credible. He has
at command a distinct female voice, and the power of ventrilo-
quism by which he maintains with ease a dialogue of several
interlocutors. He has also extraordinary powers of mimicry,
a talent perhaps intimately connected with that of varying so
much the tones of his voice. His performance was divided
into three parts, each occupying upwards of an hour; at the
end of the first and second of which he withdrew from the
stage for a space of eight or ten minutes. For the two first
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8o ME MO IKS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [October,
parts he had a table before him, at which he stood and dis-
coursed, as if delivering a lecture; a chair behind him, in which
he occasionally seated himself in personating particular char-
acters, the costumes of which he assumed in the presence of
the audience, by a movement never taking two minutes of
time. He thus travestied himself as a French Professor, a
German Professor of Craniology, and an old Scotchwoman tell-
ing a story how the keys of the kirk were lost. In these parts
he imitated the Scotch, the German, and the French pronun-
ciation of English inimitably; and the caricature face of the
broad-cheeked, wide-mouthed, heavy-moulded German, then
of the long, lank, projected single-toothed Frenchman, with a
powdered, pomatumed, frizzled toupet, and a head sunk into
a perpetual shrug of the shoulders, and next of the smooth-
tongued, oily-mouthed, coax-accented Scottish old woman,
were in the mo^t exact congeniality with their several modes
of speech. In relating the adventures of the passage from
Dover to Calais, he introduced a dialogue between several of
the supposed characteristic passengers, and described them
under the operation of seasickness with great humor, and yet
without indelicacy. In the third act, instead of his table he had
a scene as of the door of a stage-office, and a French diligence
standing at the back of the scene. He began with personating
an English Boots^ a waiter at the stage-office; then came in,
successively, in four characters taking seats in the diligence,
and finally in that of the driver, Monsieur Poudre Meneur, with
his blue-and-red uniform, his long-queued powdered hair, his
jack-boots, and his wood thonged whip. His mode of with-
drawing from the stage to change his character and dress was
by getting into the diligence, and each time, when getting in,
he gave a disputing dialogue between the person entering and
those supposed to be already seated in it. One of his person-
ages was a doll figure dressed like a boy, shut up in a box,
from which he occasionally drew him and held with him a
ridiculous dialogue. An old maid brought in another box, in
which was supposed to be a lap-dog, the yelling of which,
upon being supposed to be pinched, he imitated as exactly as
all his varieties of the human voice. The whole entertainment
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was interspersed with occasional humorous songs, at which,
during the two first acts, he had the accompaniment of a per-
former on the piano, but worse than none — the musician being
so rapt in ecstasy at the exhibition of Mathews himself as to be
never in time for his own. This entertainment was wonderful and
amusing, and continually laughable, and yet passed heavily off.
Most of the hearers are weary of it before it is over. Its humor
is all light ; its wit flashing away in puns, its ridicule often
resolvable into mere absurdity. It is a picture of Teniers or
of Jan Steen — imitation to admire, of that which in nature is
only despised.
23d. At the office I received a letter from Cortland Parker,
our Consul at Curagoa, with an account of an abortive expedi-
tion against the island of Porto Rico, fitted out chiefly at New
York and Philadelphia, under the command of a German officer
in the real or pretended service of the repi^blic of Colombia,
and named the Baron Holstein. One of his vessels was under
the flag of the Netherlands, but those that went from the
United States were engaged upon false pretences, and when
the real object was discovered the captains refused to proceed.
They went into Cura^oa, where the vessels were seized. They
had rendezvous'd at the Five Islands, an appendage to the
Swedish island of St. Bartholomew, whence I had some days
since received the first advices of this expedition frorh Mr.
Robert Monroe Harrison. Mr. Parker has sent me several
printed papers found on board the vessel seized at Curagoa :
being a declaration of independence of the island of ,
formerly Porto Rico ; a declaration of the Baron Holstein, as
provincial Supreme Chief of the island; and proclamations in
his name to the inhabitants of the island, and to foreign nations,
announcing the revolution as completed, and promising pro-
tection, freedom, and good government. One of these procla-
mations is signed by Baptis Irvine, as Secretary of State. A
precious Minister of the Interior !
24th. Mr. Canning called at the office, having the night before
last returned from his summer excursion. He has been to Quebec,
Montreal, and Boston. He brought with him a letter from the
King of Great Britain, addressed to the United States of America,
VOL. VI. — 6
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82 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [October,
which, he said, being rather of an old date, he would request me
to take charge of, to be delivered to the President, rather than
ask a special audience for the purpose. It was merely a notifi-
cation of the birth of a daughter to the Duke of Cambridge at
Hanover. We had also a couple of hours of desultory con-
versation upon various political topics, as well of general interest
as of particular concernment between the two nations at this
time. He spoke first of the measures recently adopted in Eng-
land, and here, for opening the commercial intercourse between
this country and the British Colonies in America. He observed
that complaint had been made to him that by a circular letter
from the Comptroller of the Treasury to the Collectors of the
Customs, explanatory of the President's proclamation of 24th
August last, the foreign tonnage and discriminating duties
were levied upon British vessels from the American Colonies
and upon articles imported in them. He said this was not only
short of reciprocity to the provisions of the Act of Parliament
opening the Colonial ports to our vessels, but laid the British
navigation under such disadvantages as would make it impos-
sible for them to pursue the trade in competition with ours.
There was another restriction, too, upon British vessels from
the Colonies, which had no counterpart in the Act of Parlia-
ment; those from the West Indies being allowed to import
only British West Indian articles, and those from North America
only articles of their own growth or produce. As the object
on both sides was to open the intercourse on terms of reci-
procity, and as these regulations were so incompatible with it,
he hoped we would remove them immediately ; and he remarked
that the Act of Parliament authorized the King in Council to
withhold the privileges of the intercourse from nations which
should not grant the same privileges to British vessels in return.
I told him we were aware of that, and that the proclamation
had gone as far as the President was authorized by the Act of
Congress of the last session to go, in meeting this overture.
We had even given a very enlarged construction to the words
of the Act by admitting vessels from North American ports
under an authority to admit vessels from the West Indies.
But the Act of Parliament did not grant to our vessels the
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advantages secured to them in the European British ports by
the Convention of 3d July, 181 5. It admitted them only by a
voyage direct from the United States, allowed them to return
only to the United States. It admitted only certain enumerated
articles, and charged them with duties almost equivalent to pro-
hibition ; while it excluded the most important articles of our
exports suited to the Colonial markets. Besides which, our
vessels which had entered their ports in the West Indies under
the Act of Parliament had been subjected to an export duty
levied by the Colonial authority, distinct from the duties levied
by the Act of Parliament, and were otherwise so shackled and
trammelled that our own merchants thought it impossible for
them to pursue the trade ia competition with the British, and
we had received remonstrances against opening the ports at all,
subject to the conditions required under this Act of Parliament.
I mentioned to him the letters I had received from Mr. Hol-
lingsworth, the Consul at St. Eustatius, with the enclosed opinion
of the Attorney-General of St. Kitts, and promised to have
them looked up and to show them to him. I told him also
that I had written to Mr. Rush immediately after the procla-
mation issued, mentioning the continued disposition of this
Government to concur with the British in any measures neces-
sary for settling this intercourse upon principles of reciprocity,
and our belief that some further understanding between the
two Governments concerning it would be advisable.
The next subject upon which he touched was the disagreeing
reports of the Commissioners under the fifth article of the
Treaty of Ghent. He said that before he left the city last sum-
mer, he had written to his Government for instructions in refer-
ence to what had passed between us ; he had not yet received
his answer, and perhaps it might be now further delayed by
the changes in the British Ministry consequent upon the death
of the Marquis of Londonderry. I asked him if Mr. George
Canning would accept of the office of Secretary for the Foreign
Department in preference to that of Governor-General of India,
to which he had already been appointed.
He thought he would. The place in India is more lucrative
— that in England more brilliant and more deeply responsible.
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84 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [October,
I said that from what I had observed of Mr. Canning's char-
acter I believed that upon a question resolvable only by that
alternative, he would without hesitation choose the place at
home ; but I had supposed other considerations would be in-
volved in the formation of his decision. Mr. Canning had been
more than once distinguished in his relations with the Cabinet
by adherence to his personal independence more than to his
place. He was supposed to entertain opinions upon important
objects of national policy clashing with those of other leading
members of the Cabinet. Whether they could be reconciled,
or whether they could be disposed of so that an Administra-
tion could move in the harmony necessary for successful opera-
tion under them, was an enquiry which I should expect would
give more cause for hesitation to Mr. Canning than a mere
question between money and glory. It was expected, if Mr.
Canning should come into the Foreign Department, that the
foreign policy of Great Britain would undergo some modifica-
tion ; that the proceedings of the Congress at Vienna would
be affected by it.
He said the Duke of Wellington was going to the Congress
of Vienna; but the Duke of Wellington goes only to execute
instructions, and the system must go from the Foreign Depart-
ment. Assenting to this remark, he passed to the subject of
the slave-trade, and enquired if we were prepared to resume
that discussion. I said we were prepared to receive and con-
sider any further observations which he might be disposed to
offer concerning it. He said that in his late tour he had become
satisfied that our compliance with the proposal of admitting
mutual search depended personally and exclusively upon me.
I assured him he had been misinformed, as he might hereafter
have occasion to know. This topic was not further pressed, and
he withdrew.
o^fVi rnKi'n^i- m^^eting at the President's at noon. Present,
r. Wirt. The subject for consideration was
>e given to Captain Biddle, who is going to
ndian seas. Letters from Captains Spencc,
w, who have been recently cruising there,
he Navy, were read. The instructions here-
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tofore given to our naval officers, under the recent slave-trade
and piracy Acts, were brought in by Mr. Homans, the Chief
Clerk of the Navy Department. From the annoyance to our
commerce of late by pirates of various descriptions, and from
the capture of several of them, with real or colorable Spanish
commissions, questions have arisen how far the instructions to
Biddle should be modified ; how far privateering commissions
from Porto Rico may be respected; whether a blockade of
all the ports of Terra Firma, by mere declarations of Spanish
officers at Porto Cavallo, should be recognized ; and whether
Biddle should be authorized to convoy our merchant vessels to
any of those ports. The Spanish privateers from Porto Rico
began by capturing all vessels bound to or from any of the
ports in Terra Firma, on the double pretence of a blockade of
the whole coast declared by Spanish officers, themselves be-
sieged in the only port possessed by them, and having only
one old frigate and two small vessels to support it; and of
the old Spanish exclusion of all foreign vessels from the ports
of these Colonies. And in one case, when the Judge at Porto
Rico decreed the restoration of a vessel carried in there, the
captain of the privateer told him in open Court that if his prize
was thus released he would follow her out of the port, take her
again, and carry her into Porto Cavallo. The Palmyra, some
days before she was taken by the Grampus, had made an at-
tempt and pretension to examine and search an American vessel
under her convoy.
The President now inclined to give instructions to Biddle to
remonstrate, to the Governor of Porto Rico, and to the com-
manders of any Spanish armed vessels with whom he may fall
in, against the blockade, and to declare that it cannot be ac-
knowledged by the United States as valid, but to avoid any
positive act of force against it. But Spence and Renshaw both
have remonstrated against the blockade to the Governor of
Porto Rico, who answered them that he would report their
remonstrances to the Spanish Government; but that it had
been declared by the commanding officers in Terra Firma,
over whose acts he had no control, nor could he revoke them.
I thought Biddle should be instructed to go into Porto
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86 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Octpbcr,
Cavallo itself and there declare to the Spanish commanders
themselves that the United States would not recognize their
paper blockades, and also to convoy American vessels to or
from any port not actually invested; and in no case whatever
to permit the search or boarding of any vessel under his convoy.
Calhoun was at first startled at this. He thought that to
resist the search would be war, and doubted the power of the
Executive to give such instructions.
I said it was the old question of Sterrett and the Enterprise,
who, after fighting and compelling the Tripolitan cruiser to sur-
render, let her go because he thought he could not bring her
in as a prize. To authorize force in self-defence I believed the
authority of the Executive under our Constitution to be entirely
competent, and if a naval officer could be authorized to convoy
at all, he must be authorized to defend the convoyed vessel as
he would his own, against force.
Calhoun asked if we could authorize the merchant vessel
itself to resist the belligerent right of search. I said, no; and
that the British claimed the right of searching convoyed ves-
sels, but that we had never admitted that right, and that the op-
posite principle was that of the armed neutrality. They main-
tained that a convoy was a pledge on the part of the convoying
nation that the convoyed vessel has no articles of contraband
on board, and is not going to a blockaded port ; and the word
of honor of the commander of the convoy to that effect must
be given. But, I added, if we could instruct our officer to give
convoy at all, we cannot allow him to submit to the search by
foreigners of a vessel under his charge; for it is placing our
officer and the nation itself in. an attitude of inferiority and
humiliation.
The President agreed with this opinion, and Mr. Calhoun
dared his acquiescence in it ; and it was determined that the
structions to Biddle should be drawn accordingly. Mr. Cal-
)un asked me if Mr. Early, of Georgia, had called upon me.
e had not. He had upon Calhoun, and upon the President
is object was to represent that the Marshal for the District
Georgia was now accumulating a fortune of at least thirty
ousand dollars a year by working a number of African
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negroes who are in his possession as Marshal of the District,
while at the same time he is making the most enormous charges
against the public for the maintenance of the very same negroes ;
that he makes it his open boast that he holds the office of Mar-
shal for no other purpose, and that he intends to swamp the
negroes — that is, to work them to death — before they shall be
finally adjudicated out of his possession. Mr. Early adds that
his cruelty to negroes is universally notorious, and that it is
equally well known that he did commit the murder of the black
man for which he was tried and acquitted. The principal wit-
nesses against him were spirited away. Early declares himself
to be of the same political party with the Marshal (Crawford's),
but is so horror-struck at the character and conduct of the
man that he feels it to be his duty to denounce him. Yet he
does not incline to support his charges with his name, the
Marshal being a man of such desperation that everybody fears
him. Early wished that the District Attorney and Judge might
be authorized to investigate the circumstances of the custody
of these negroes, but I thought it very doubtful whether that
would avail. The District Attorney had shown in a former
case that he was not the man to grapple with deep and deadly
villainy supported by wealth and standing in society. The
President inclined to send a person to Savannah specially
charged with the investigation. Mr. Calhoun intimated the
propriety of dismissing the Marshal immediately from office,
but the President said that could not be done while there
was no avowed accuser against him. I received last year two
anonymous letters charging him with the murder of the negro,
but Mr. Tatnall and Mr. Cuthbert, both highly-respectable
members of the Georgia delegation in Congress, took so deep
an interest in his favor that he was re-appointed to the Mar-
shal's office, though I did believe that the ineffaceable stain of
blood was upon his hands. The President determined for the
present only to direct that the accounts for keeping the negroes
should not be paid at the Navy Department, and that further
examination should be made hereafter.
28th. Visit of two hours at the office from Mr. Canning.
He resumed the subject of the West India trade, and urged
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88 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [October,
again for the admission of British vessels from the Colonial
ports upon the same terms with regard to duties as our own.
I repeated to him that the President could do nothing further
before the meeting of Congress. He said he was afraid he
should be obliged then to trouble me with a long note upon
the subject. I told him I should then of course lay it before
the President, by whom it would be deliberately considered.
He took from his pocket immediately, and gave me, his note,
and with it an extract of a letter from Barbadoes, mentioning
that orders had been received there from London to admit
American vessels upon payment of the same fees as are paid by
British vessels, and expressing some misgivings how it would
all operate ; and a sort of imperious assurance that their vessels
must of course be admitted into our ports upon the same terms
as our own.
I observed that this would be more than was even implied in
the letter as being extended to us, for that spoke only of the
same fees, which included neither duties nor port charges by
the necessary import of the term ; but that a different con-
struction appeared to have been given to the Act of Parliament
in other islands ; and I looked up and read to him the letter
from Mr. Hollingsworth, and the opinion enclosed in it of the
King's attorney, Woodley, at St. Kitts. I then asked how it
would be possible for our vessels to stand any competition in
the trade with theirs, while theirs should enjoy here every ad-
vantage and exemption of our own liberty to import from all
their ports West Indian, North American, or British European
articles indiscriminately, admitted upon credit for the duties,
and subject neither to duty nor restriction upon exportation,
while ours were restricted to direct voyages, both to and from
their ports and the United States; limited to a specific list of
enumerated articles of importation, all heavily laden with duties;
and with exclusion of the most important articles of our ex-
ports, compelled to cash payment of all the duties, and pinioned
with an export bond and ransomed with an export duty of four
and a half or five per cent. How was it possible for us to throw
wide open all the gates while they only half opened one door?
He said the expression was rather strong, but that the
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common object of the Act of Parliament, and of the Act of
Congress, was to open the intercourse upon liberal terms of
reciprocity ; that the Act of Congress in its spirit contemplated
a corresponding indulgence to every such provision in the Act
of Parliament. Whether yet further accommodations to the
trade could be hereafter granted might be a subject of negotia-
tion, or of further legislation, but in the mean time it appeared
consonant to our own interest to yield a specific counterpart
for every favor extended to our vessels by the Act of Parlia-
ment ; and as that subjected neither our vessels, nor the mer-
chandise imported in them, to any duties to which British ves-
sels and the same articles imported in them are not also liable,
in the spirit of both Acts, British vessels and their importations
here are fairly entitled to the same advantages as our own, and
if not now granted, would give them hereafter a fair claim for
indemnity to the full extent in which they may be withheld.
I said that was what we could not admit. The Act -of Par-
liament was an act of voluntary legislation on the part of
Great Britain, passed with reference to her own interest, and
requiring nothing of us as obligatory in return. We were in-
deed disposed to meet it in a spirit of liberality, and even to go
further; but we must judge of its liberality to us from the
practical result of its operation, and not from the specific pur-
port of its provisions. For real reciprocity and equal compe-
tition we are prepared, but not for dispositions reciprocal by
the letter and one-sided in their effect.
He said that the restriction of importations to West Indian
articles from the West Indies, and to North American articles
from North America, had no counterpart in the British Act of
Parliament. The Act of Parliament admitted vessels from all
parts of the United States with productions of any part. A
vessel from Boston, for example, could carry the produce of
Virginia or of Louisiana, and vice versa. But the proclamation
considered the British Colonies in the West Indies as one
country, and the British Colonies in North America as another.
The British Government might as well discrfminate between
the Northern and tire Southern States. The British Act con-
sidered all the countries under the same Government as one.
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go MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. • [October,
We divided the Colonies into two classes, and refused to re-
ceive the productions of one class from the ports of the other.
I replied that this restriction, though not identical as a specific
counterpart to theirs, was corresponding to it as to the effect.
They admitted us only to enumerated ports. They admitted
only enumerated articles. They loaded these articles with
almost prohibitory duties, and excluded from them our prin-
cipal articles of trade adapted to the market. Our counter-
restriction is not by enumeration either of articles or of places,
but by classification of both. The British Colonies in the West
Indies and in North America are, to all purposes of commerce
and navigation, countries as different from each other as Portugal
and Sweden. They are under a Government totally different in
relation to our intercourse with them from that of Great Britain.
As a specific counterpart to their restrictions, we might admit
them only to a few of our ports, we might admit only enumer-
ated articles, and exclude rum or sugar from the list. Instead
of this, we exclude West Indian articles from North America,
and North American articles from the West Indies. The effect
is a counter-restriction ; the difference is only of form.
He left the note with me, rather, he said, as a memorandum
which he might perhaps wish hereafter to revise. He then
asked if we had received the Convention concluded at St.
Petersburg about the slaves. We had not; though we have
advice of Mr. Charles Pinkney, the Secretary of the Legation,
having sailed with it on the 17th of July. He asked if we had
not received a copy of the Convention. I said we had, but it
was from England, through Mr. Rush. I enquired if he was
informed whether it had been ratified in England ; he said he
was not. I told him Mr. Rush had been informed that it was in
a process of ratification, and remarked upon the extraordinary
solemnity which the lawyers in England considered as essential
to the act of fixing the Great Seal to an instrument, exemplified
in the scruples of Dr. Adams at Ghent, whether the Treaty of
Peace could be executed in triplicates.
Mr. Canning finally mentioned again the reports of the Com-
missioners under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent. The
disagreement of the Commissioners is as to the place of the
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highlands which divide the rivers flowing into the St. Lawrence
from the waters that fall into the Atlantic Ocean, and they differ
by a space of more than a hundred miles. Mr. Canning said
that on his late excursion he had accidentally met with a
geographer of this country, who, without knowing him, had
very strongly confirmed the opinion of the British Commis-
sioner, Colonel Barclay. For in looking over one of this
geographer's maps of that region, he (Canning) had pointed at
the place where the American Commissioner pronounced the
highlands to be, and said, " Why, there must be hills along here,"
upon which the geographer had said, " Oh, no; nothing of the
kind there."
I smiled, and said I fancied that must have been an English
geographer.
He did not deny it, but said he believed Mellish himself was
an Englishman. I then asked him whether it was probable
we could negotiate for a successful adjustment of that line.
Why, what were we disposed to do? "Then," said I, "you
want a road between your two provinces, do you not ?" *' Yes."
** Well," said I, " we will treat on this basis. You shall have
the road, and give us an equivalent accommodation in territory."
He appeared thus far satisfied ; but had not yet received his
instructions from England authorizing him to proceed in the
negotiation.
29th. I called at the President's with two notes from the
Spanish Minister, Anduaga: one, repeating the deman'd before
what tribunal prosecutions may be brought by persons having
suffered from the American army in Florida in the year 1818,
conformably to the ninth article of the Florida Treaty; the
other, a bitter complaint, first against the late Captain Elton, of
the Spark, whom he charges with having suppressed a docu-
ment given him by the officer of a prize crew of a Dutch vessel,
prize to a Spanish privateer, retaken by the Spark, and which
prize crew are under charges of piracy before the United States
Circuit Court at Charleston, South Carolina; to which Anduaga
adds a long enumeration of other complaints of hostile arma-
ments against Spain in our ports, overlooked or connived at by
the Government of the United States.
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g2 AfEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [October,
As to the first of these notes, I observed to the President
that there was no existing tribunal which could take cognizance
of those cases, and suggested to him the expediency of pro-
posing to Congress the institution of such a tribunal, which he
said he would. As to the other note, the President felt some
indignation at the tone in which it was written, and thought
that in the reply it would be proper to make a full statement of
all the piracies upon our commerce recently committed by ves-
sels under Spanish colors. The charge against Elton must be
examined into. I left with the President Mr. Canning*s note
concerning the West India trade, and Hollingsworth*s letter
with the enclosed opinion of the Attorney-General at St. Kitts.
The President said he wished to begin the draft of his message
for the commencement of the session of Congress, but he was
subject to such perpetual interruptions here that it was scarcely
possible. He had thoughts of going for a few days alone to
Loudoun, merely to have a little leisure for. writing. Here,
unless he denied access to himself, there was not a moment of
the day from breakfast-time that he could command.
30th. Mr. Parish called at the office for Mr. Canning, to
request the return of his note upon the West India trade, that
he might make two or three alterations in it. I told him it
was at the President's, but promised to obtain and return it, so
that Mr. Canning might make any alterations in it that he thought
proper. Parish brought also to read an extract of a dispatch
from Mr. Canning to his Government, giving an account of his
last conference with me. •It was not altogether accurate, and I
desired Mr. Parish to mention to Mr. Canning the particulars
in which it was otherwise. In relating the earnestness with
which he had urged a new explanatory proclamation for the
admission of British vessels from the Colonies without addi-
tional tonnage or discriminating duties, he had not noticed the
principal and insuperable objection made by me — ^the want of
authority in the Executive to remove them. The omission
gives an incorrect view of the whole conference.
31st. Baron Stackelberg, the Swedish Charge d' Affaires, sent
me a note complaining of, and protesting against, a breach of
his diplomatic privileges, by an attempt of a constable to arrest
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l822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 93
one of his servants, a mulatto woman, in his house. I men-
tioned this note to the President, who called at the office. Upon
enquiry", it appeared that Stackelberg had never .sent to the
Department a list of his family, as the Act of Congress requires,
nor had he ever been informed that it was required by the law.
The constables are appointed by the city corporation. I desired
Mr. Brent to see the Mayor and enquire into the circumstances
of this case, and to desire that all the police officers of the city
should be strictly enjoined never to presume to serve a process
in the house of a foreign Minister. I requested him also to
call on Baron Stackelberg and assure him that every suitable
measure should be taken to give him satisfaction, as well as to
prevent the recurrence of any such accident in future. I thought
it better to take this course rather than that of a formal diplo-
matic correspondence on the subject. This was also the Presi-
dent's opinion. I mentioned to the President that Mr. Canning
had desired to have his note back, to make some alterations in
it- He said he would send it to me. I read to him the draft of
my letter to R. Rush of 27th August last, immediately after the
issuing of the proclamation. He desired me to send him a copy
of it. I asked him also for the letter from Mr. Hollingsworth,
with the opinion of the King's Attorney at St. Kitts, Woodley
— papers important for the answer to Mr. Canning's note. --
Noz'ember ist. I received a dispatch from H. Middleton, our
Minister at St. Petersburg, dated ^th August, relating entirely
to the Northwest Coast controversy. The Baron de Tuyl is
coming out as Minister from Russia"; charged with a proposal
for negotiating on the subject. Speransky, now Governor-
General of Siberia, told Middleton that they had at first thought
of declaring the Northern Pacific Ocean a " mare clausum,"
but afterwards took the one hundred Italian miles from the
thirty leagues in the Treaty of Utrecht, which is an exclusion
only from a fishery, and not from navigatioq/ I took this letter,
which is most confidential, to the President, and desired him,
after reading it, to return it to me, that it may not be exposed
to be brought before the public, which Mr. Middleton requests
that it may not. The President read me a paragraph of the
draft of his message, which he has begun to prepare. It related
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54 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
to the proclamation of 24th August and intercourse with the
British Colonies in America. I asked him if he would not think
it advisable to notice in the message the latitude of construction
which was given to the term West Indies, in the Act of Con-
gress of 6th May, by the proclamation. He said he would.
2d. We had company to dinner — the Commissioners, White,
King, and Tazewell, Major L. Austin, D. Brent, J. A. Dix,
F. C. Gray, H. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Orne, T. Watkins, and
Mr. and Mrs. Wirt. There had also been invited General
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, of Louisiana, Mr. Cowper, Mr.
and Mrs. Frye, Mr. E. Livingston, Captain Patterson, and Gen-
eral Winder, who came not. We were twenty at table. The
dinner was pleasant, with the exception of one incident : in a
desultory conversation upon wines, Mr. Tazewell asserted, and
perseveringly insisted, that Tokay was a species of Rheni.sh
wine. After insisting to the contrary for some time in perfect
good humor and civility, as he still persisted, in the warmth of
the collision I said, '* Why, you never drank a drop of Tokay
in your life." I set this down as a token of self-disapprobation
for having said it. Tazewell made no reply, but looked hurt.
The conversation turned upon other topics, and on leaving the
table he went away without returning with the rest of the com-
pany to the drawing-room. I have no good apology to make
to myself for this incivility; for that Tazewell himself is not
sparing of feelings in the clash of conversation, and had been
much otherwise even at this dinner, is no justification to me.
7th. The day after I dismissed John B. Colvin from the
Department of State I saw his hand in the Washington City
Gazette. He has since commenced a series of numbers under
the editorial part of that paper, headed " The Presidential
n.t^of;,Ar» " oo/^h of two or three columns. Five numbers have
ten in Colvin's best manner, professing to give
:>{ my character, and scanning my pretensions
ncy. They present me in ca-ricature, and touch
ig true, and everything false that can be made to
. which could degrade me in the popular opinion.
en with just so much regard to truth as to seize
s to which a suspicious coloring may be given,
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 95
from which a whole tale of falsehood is fabricated and asserted
as fact, to exhibit me as a base and despicable character. Be-
tween three and four years ago, Colvin attempted to fawn
himself into my favor by eulogizing me in newspapers. He
published a characteristic portrait of me so highly charged
that, on being informed it was written by him, I requested him
to abstain from any such publications having any personal
reference to me whatever; that if he inclined to political news-
paper discussion, and would defend and vindicate any member
of the Administration who might be assailed, his labors would
be acceptable, but that I wanted no personal panegyrist. He
continued to cringe, however, and to work windingly for my
good graces ; but, besides the warning of his old treachery to
Robert Smith, the more I saw of him the more reason I had
for distrusting him ; and I never placed any confidence in him.
He had shrewdness enough after a year or two of ineflfectual
parasitical courtship to discover his failure, and among my
present characteristics enumerates a lurking and distrustful
suspicion in the eye. He would occasionally endeavor indi-
rectly to get sight of the secret diplomatic documents, but
they were kept out of his reach. His absences from the office
and neglect of his duties, in the mean time, kept increasing
with his habits of intemperance, till they could no longer
be tolerated. I had long been aware that it must ultimately
come to this, and have been gradually breaking his hold from
the office, till he could be dismissed without inconvenience.
I knew that from that moment he would become the bitterest
of my revilers ; and of the whole tribe he is the only one who
can be instigated to injure me by revenge. A comparison be-
tween his portrait of 1 8 19 and his caricature now would be
curious, as marking the depraved ingenuity of unprincipled
intellect. The five numbers on the Presidential question teem
with falsehoods. I wrote this morning, and sent to Gales and
Seaton, a short paper containing a direct contradiction of two
among the basest of those falsehoods. I did this in deference
to feelings in my family, more sensitive to such slanders than
my own. No man in America has made his way through
showers of ribaldry and invective of this character more fre-
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g6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
quent and various than I have breasted. A new storm of them
has in the last eighteen months burst upon me, and will rage
until every indication of a party holding my name up as a
candidate for the Presidency shall have vanished.
I received a letter from Joseph R. Ingersoll, at Philadelphia,
stating that a new Commission would issue from the Court, to'
take over again my first deposition in the case of Harris vs,
Lewis, on account of some informality, real or apprehended, in
the taking of it before.
I was at the President's, and met Mr. Calhoun there. The
President directed a Cabinet meeting for one o'clock to-morrow,
to consider my draft of an answer to Mr. Canning's letter
upon the Comptroller's Circular and the Colonial intercourse.
He read me a paragraph that he had prepared to insert in the
message, recommending to Congress the institution of a tri-
bunal in Florida to carry into effect the stipulation in the ninth
article of the Florida Treaty. The Governor of the Arkansas
Territory, James Miller, has requested leave of absence for the
next summer. I took his letter to the President, who directed
me to answer that he might have leave of absence for such
term as would not be incompatible with the convenience of the
Dublic service : for which the President expected he would
sion.
sting at the President's at one o'clock,
rd and Mr. Calhoun. The Attorney-Gen-
*. Mr. Canning's letter was read by the
id the draft of my answer. Mr. Canning's
d : one, that while the Act of Parliament
ities on our importations to the Colonies
an or in British vessels, and admits direct
erican vessels of the products of the whole
proclamation, as explained by the Comp-
:s foreign tonnage duties and the ten per
merchandise, and limits the importations
lucts from the West Indies, and to North
from North America, when imported in
id he argues that in the principle of reci-
the intercourse Great Britain has a right to
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claim that we should impose no restriction upon the British
navigation employed in it which is not a specific counterpart
of a like restriction upon our navigation in the Act of Parlia-
ment. My answer alleges a want of authority in the Executive
to remove the tonnage and discriminating duties, and denies
the principle that we should be confined to specific counter-
parts of any restrictions in the Act of Parliament. It enumer-
ates the various restrictions upon our navigation as admitted
under the Act of Parliament, and says that our restrictions may
perhaps not be sufficient to counteract them.
Mr. Crawford expressed a doubt whether the second point
of Canning's complaint was completely answered by my draft.
He said that as to the tonnage and other discriminating duties,
it was clear that the President had no authority to repeal them,
but he might remove the restriction upon the importations, so
as to admit the productions of all the Colonies from any of the
Colonial ports. And he inclined to the opinion that the dis-
criminating duties were sufficient to countervail, in favor of our
navigation, the British restrictions. This, however, is altogether
conjectural.
Mr. Calhoun enquired whether we had any facts, and knew
how the late opening of the intercourse had operated. I had
nothing but Hollingsworth's letters, and Mr. Crawford had
nothing. There was some discussion as to the effect of ad-
mitting in British vessels West India produce from North
America, and North American produce from the West Indies.,
Mr. Calhoun remarked upon the advantage it would give in
making up assorted cargoes, and I observed that its efifect
must be estimated in connection with the latitude of exporta-
tion which we have allowed to British vessels without restric-
tion, while they lay our vessels under export bonds to land their
cargoes exclusively in the United States.
Mr. Crawford finally said, and all agreed, that no altera-
tion of the proclamation would be advisable; the meeting of
Congress approaching now within a month, and it being evi-
dent that the regulation of the intercourse with the British
Colonies must be a subject of negotiation between the Gov-
ernments. The President suggested the propriety of omitting
VOL. VI. — 7
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gS MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
the passage of my draft which intimated that the counter-
restrictions of the proclamation might perhaps not be sufficient,
but consented that it should remain modified to say they were
surely not more than sufficient.
9th. My short note to Gales and Seaton, exposing two of
the many falsehoods in Colvin's abusive papers on the Presi-
dential question, was published this morning in the National
Intelligencer, as a communication, and a reply appeared in the
Washington Gazette of this evening, re-asserting them, adding
a number more of falsehoods, and redoubling scurrilous invec-
tives.
At the office. Count de Menou, Charge d'Affaires of France,
called, just returned from his excursion of several weeks to
Philadelphia. He said he had received letters of 13th Septem-
ber from the Baron Hyde de Neuville, who has been received
with great distinction by the King. Every member of the
Legation has been noticed by some mark of favor. An ordi-
nance issued for carrying into effect the Convention from the
1st of October, but it has not been ratified. Menou said that
they probably wished to take time and consult the Chambers
of Commerce, to act deliberately with regard to the ratification ;
that Hersant would come out in the the Six Brothers, a vessel
which was to sail from Havre for New York in October, but he
did not appear to expect that he would bring the ratified Con-
vention. That is ultimately to be brought out by Bresson.
The demur, I have no doubt, is upon the separate article pro-
posed by De Neuville himself, and which they will probably
not ratify.
Reading further in Walpole's Memoirs, or Secret History
of the British Administrations from 1750 to 1760, I find in
them many things that remind me of the present state of things
here. The public history of all countries, and all ages, is but
a sort of mask, richly colored. The interior working of the
machinery must be foul. There is as much mining and
countermining for power, as many fluctuations of friendship
and enmity, as many attractions and repulsions, bargains and
oppositions, narrated in these Memoirs, as might be told of
our own times. Walpole witnessed it all as a sharer in the
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sport, and now tells it to the world as a satirist. And shall not
I, too. have a tale to tell ?
I ith. On returning from the President's, I was occupied until
sent for home to dinner in reading the dispatches from Mr.
Middleton and Mr. Forsyth. The papers with the treaty are
not numerous, but there are other communications highly con-
fidential, particularly a letter of instructions from the late Lord
Castlereagh to Sir Charles Bagot, written at Hanover in October,
1 82 1, fully disclosing the policy of the British Cabinet, and of
the European alliance, with reference to the differences between
Russia and Turkey. Mr. Forsyth's dispatch, as usual, gives a
list of a new Ministry in Spain, and represents the political state
of that country as more disturbed and threatening than at any
former period since their last revolution.
1 2th. At two, Mr. Francisco Solano Constancio, the new
Charge d'Affaires from Portugal, came to the office. He is
new in the diplomatic career, to which he has been introduced
by the late revolution in Portugal. Hi comes last from France,
and appears lively and loquacious. He told me that his intro-
ductory letter to me from the Portuguese Minister of Foreign
Affairs was of an old date ; that he had read the latest corre-
spondence between me and Mr. Amado Grehon ; that he should
not revive the subjects of it without further instructions from
his Government; that they had naturally been much pressed
by claimants, Portuguese and Brazilian, who had suffered by
capture of their property; but he was happy that nothing fur-
ther of that kind was likely to occur. Portugal was now at
peace with all the world, and there was not even a flag of
Artigas under which captures of Portuguese property could
be made. Portugal was disposed to recognize the independence
of all South America, not excepting Brazil itself, if the people
there should desire it. He professed also great attachment to
the United States, and high admiration of our political institu-
tions, and said he had been several times on the point of coming
to settle in this country as a private individual. He wished to
be presented to the President, for which, with the President's
subsequent approbation, I appointed one o'clock to-morrow.
The President read to me the paragraphs prepared for his
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100 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
message relating to Great Britain and the Colonial intercourse;
to France and the Commercial Convention, and to Russia, and
the mediated Convention ; also those concerning South America,
and the illegal blockades of both parties to that war. He had
not prepared the paragraphs concerning the state of the Treas-
ury, but told me that although, since his return, Mr. Crawford
had sent him a statement less favorable than those he had be-
fore received from the Chief Clerk and Register of the Treasury,
the receipts of the year would exceed the estimates by more
than four millions of dollars. I mentioned to the President the
negotiation for which we must be prepared with the Russian
Minister daily expected, Baron Tuyl, concerning the Russian
claims on the northwest coast of this continent, and which I ap-
prehend will be of considerable difficulty, for the whole claim
on the part of Russia seems to be groundless. The Emperor
has committed himself in the face of the world to pretensions
that he cannot sustain, and now comes to obtain by negotiation
a part of the wrong by renouncing the remainder.
The President said he had no doubt the Emperor would be
satisfied with latitude 55 for the boundary; but I remarked that
we had no immediate interest in the boundary question. Having
no claim of our own north of 49, it was immaterial to us whether
Russia came to 55 or 51. That was a question particularly for
Great Britain.
He said the maritime question might be settled by reducing
the claim of exclusive jurisdiction to a distance of one marine
league from the shore.
1 did not apprehend any difficulty in that. The prohibition
\ to our citizens of trading with the Indians of the Northwest
\ coast was the knot that I expected, and the embarrassment
will be, that, having no counter-claim on our part, whatever we
agree to in the negotiation must in its nature be concession
without equivalent. I desired the President to turn his atten-
tion to this subject, and to consider whether it would be expe-
dient to communicate with the British Government through
Mr. Canning or Mr. Rush concerning it.
He said Great Britain might treat such a communication as
she had done with the proposal for acknowledging the inde-
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lOI
pendence of Buenos Ayres — communicate if .Jmhiediately to
Russia, and turn it to her own account. • ' /
To avoid this, I asked if it might not be well, uptTii Jhe first
overtures from Baron Tuyl, to meet them immediately by an
enquiry how the question stands in this affair between Qfeat
Britain and Russia ; with a frank avowal that we thinlrXjce^t
Britain has so much claim of interest in this concern that' hd .
effective arrangement of it can be concluded without consultin'g*
her.
He said it would deserve great consideration.
I also spoke of the necessity of settling some determinate
system of diplomatic intercourse with the South American
Governments, and expressed my opinion that of the five Pleni-
potentiary missions for which appropriations were made at the
last session of Congress, one at the most ought to be now filled,
and I had doubts even of that. If they should, however, be
filled, I hoped C. Pinkney would be appointed as one of the
Secretaries, as I supposed he would not wish to return to
Russia.
The President will consult the Cabinet on the whole subjecj*^
1 3th. At one o'clock I accompanied the Portuguese Charge
d'Affaires and Mr. Schmitz, whom he introduced as attached
to the Legation, to the President's, and presented them to him.
He received them in the small drawing-room without formality.
Mr. Constancio repeated to him the substance of what he had
said yesterday to me. and reciprocal professions of friendly dis-
positions between the two countries and Governments were
passed as usual in such cases. Mr. Constancio particularly
dwelt upon the similarity, of principles on which the two Gov-
ernments were now founded, since the late regeneration of Por-
tugal, as forming new links of attachment between them.
After they had withdrawn, I had some conversation with
the President concerning the dispatches from Russia and from
Spain, which I had left with him yesterday. He had not yet
read them through.
There was a letter, too, from Jeremy Robinson, at St. Jago de
Chili, to which I had called the President's special attention.
It is dated 2^th May last, and is filled with bitter complaints
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102 M^Jif^f/^S OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
against all tKe ftaval officers of the United States who have
command€»,^' in the Pacific since 1817, and against J. B. Prevost,
the Ageht;/whose conduct appears not to have been exactly
what ii,6tight to have been, but against whom nothing definite
haS'ljeen proved which required, or would justify, a direct cen-
sure iipon him. From the President's I went to the office of
, tbC'Navy Department, and saw the Secretary, Mr. Thompson.
• ''••15th. Some months since, I received a letter from Richard
•Emmons, in Kentucky, enclosing the thirtieth canto of an epic
poem in thirty-six books, of which the author requested my
opinion as a critic. The subject of the poem was the late war
with Great Britain, and the thirtieth canto was called The
Cruise of the Immortal Blakely. A critical opinion upon an
epic poem in thirty-six books was a serious and delicate affair.
How could it be given with candor ? How could it be declined
with civility? To have answered with commendation and per-
siflage would have been very easy, but inhuman, and unworthy
of the gravity of my station. I left the poem and the poet's
letter in one of the drawers of my table, till I received a few
days since a second letter from the author, much concerned at
having received no answer from me, and apprehensive that his
Cruise of the Immortal Blakely was lost. I answered his letters
this day, and enclosed his thirtieth canto, declining to give an
opinion upon his epic poem, and commending his patriotism.
1 6th. The President read to me the paragraphs relating to
foreign affairs which he has drawn up for the message, par-
ticularly those relating to Spain and Portugal, to South America,
to Russia, Turkey, and the Greeks, and to the unsettled state
of Europe. I doubted most of those concerning Spain and
Portugal, in which he had spoken of their revolutionary pros-
pects more favorably than I thought the state of facts, according
to our most recent information, would warrant He said he
would revise them, and would attend particularly to the last
dispatch from Mr. Forsyth. His paragraph concerning the
Greeks, with a strong expression of sympathy in their favor,
adds a sentiment equally explicit, that neither justice nor policy
would justify on our part any active interference in their cause.
The President said he hoped to be ready to bring the draft of
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 103
the whole message before a meeting of the members of the
Administration next Tuesday. He proposes also to say some-
thing of the repairs of the Cumberland Road, being satisfied
that Congress have the right of appropriating money to that
purpose.
25th. Mr. Canning came with a note upon the old subject of
discrimination between rolled and hammered iron in our tariff,
the consideration of which was postponed from the last session
of Congress. But we had a long and desultory conversation
upon various topics, chiefly, however, upon the Colonial inter-
course. We went over again all the topics which have been
discussed between us before, both in conversation and in corre-
spondence on this subject. He intimated to me that many of
our own merchants thought we had not met the regulations of
the Act of Parliament opening the Colonial ports with equal
reciprocity. I said I had no doubt he had been, and would be,
told so. But he must be aware that most or all of the mer-
chants in this country, with whom he was acquainted or in
correspondence, are either British subjects, or so connected as
to be in British interests. Our merchants tell a very different
story. There would be doubtless a bias of partiality on both
sides, but our merchants would of course expect that we should
attend to their interests.
He said he thought Congress would see the thing in a more
favorable light than this.
I replied that if such a disposition should be manifested in
Congress, it would in no wise be counteracted by the Executive,
whose only object is to secure the interests of our own people,
consistently with the most entire and liberal reciprocity.
He said all the British merchants here were confident that,
with the existing tonnage and discriminating duties, in six
weeks more there could not be a single British vessel in the
trade.
I read to him a paragraph from a letter of John Hollings-
worth, dated the 20th of October, at St. Eustatius, and de-
claring that of all the American vessels that have entered at
St. Kitts and Nevis since the opening of the ports, not one
had been satisfied.
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I04 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [November,
He touched again upon the discrimination made by us be-
tween the North American and the West Indian British Colo-
nies, which I defended, and he contested, on the same argument
as heretofore. I told him it was probable, however, that Con-
gress might remove that discrimination and substitute other
regulations in its stead ; perhaps a limitation to direct voyages,
both to and from the Colonies; perhaps a limited list of im-
ports, excepting the most important of their export articles,
such as rum, for which they could find no other market, as they
excluded our salted fish and provisions.
He said he was sure that was what I was coming to, and
again intimated the threat of closing the ports again, which I
again told him they were quite free to do, and no doubt would
do. if they found it for their interest. We knew that had been
their motive for opening the ports. He said we supposed they
had been compelled by our restrictive measures to open the
ports, but he believed we were in tliat mistaken. I said that
we did not attribute it altogether to that. We ascribed much
to the independence of the South American provinces, under
which it was impossible that the old exclusive and excluding
Colonial system should much longer endure anywhere. He
remarked that the reason upon which Colonies were confined
to exclusive intercourse with the mother-country was the expense
of their settlement.
Observing me to smile at this, he asked whether it was not
so. I asked how much expense the settlement of Mexico and
Peru had cost Spain under Cortes and Pizarro. I added, it was
conquest and conversion ; the bull of Alexander the Sixth and
the sword of injustice, in which the exclusions of modern
colonization had originated. Spain had set the example. She
had forbidden foreigners from setting a foot in her Colonies,
upon pain of death, and the other colonizing states of Europe
had imitated the exclusion, though not the rigor of the penalty.
The expense of colonizing had formed no part of the considera-
tion. The whole system of modern colonization was an abuse
of government, and it was time that it should come to an end.
But he said that the British Colonies had been settled upon
principles of the utmost liberality. I asked him if he had ever
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read NeaKs History of the Puritans. No. Well, he knew that
the first settlement of New England was made by Puritans?
Yes. And they were outcasts from their country for the sake
of conscience ; and pilgrims from Holland to a wilderness in
America for the sake of their country. They came here to
escape turning to Dutchmen, and even here could not obtain
a charter securing to them the blessing of toleration. He said
that was because intolerance was, unfortunately, the spirit of
that age ; which I admitted, but thought it no proof of the
liberality of the British system.
Mr. Canning was also very inquisitive about this expedition
of General Ducoudray Holstein and Baptis Irvine against the
island of Porto Rico, which he seemed to fear was not yet
entirely broken up. He betrayed more of alarm than he
avowed. It was apparent to me that he suspected the expe-
dition had been secretly sanctioned or connived at by the
American Government, and that we intended to make our-
selves masters of Porto Rico. Without appearing to discover
his apprehensions, I said what was sufficient to tranquillize
them — told him that the expedition was entirely broken up,
and that we had known nothing of it until wc first heard of
it from the island of St. Bartholomew.
He intimated a wish that we should give orders to our public
vessels in the West Indies against it, but I gave him no en-
couragement to expect that we would. Mr. Canning, as usual,
kept me till near dark.
26th. Note from the President, directing a meeting of the
members of the Administration at one o'clock. Present, Mr.
Crawford, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Thompson. The President read
the draft prepared for his message to Congress at the opening of
the session of Congress. It is very long, and contains more of
discussion than seemed to me suitable for such a paper. The
meeting was adjourned to half-past one to-morrow for reading
it by paragraphs. Very few observations upon it were made
this day. Calhoun proposed to substitute the words value of
freight for cost of freight, and I proposed the use of the term
freigitt alone, which was sufficient to express the idea intended
to be conveyed in the passage. The criticism in Calhoun's
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I06 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
objection to the term cost was minute, but ingenious and just.
It was in a paragraph concerning the comparative vahe of our
exports, and it had been drawn up by Crawford. The term
cost, as thus apphed to freight, was incorrect, and Calhoun's
objection to it showed that he was deeper in political economy
than Crawford.
Mr. Crawford objected to a passage concerning the decision
of the Emperor of Russia on the Ghent Treaty question. The
President had said the documents, including a Convention to
carry the decision into effect, would be communicated. Craw-
ford thought this mode of expression would appear to imply
that the Convention had also been made by the Emperor. He
had not heard of this Convention before.
There was in the draft a very long paragraph upon the
Military Academy at West Point. I thought it occupied too
large a space in the message. I doubted whether any part of
it was necessary ; and there were in it a number of remarks
upon the indocility and ardor of youthful minds, of a nature
too speculative and doctrinal for the occasion. I started the
question first only upon these, and on the reperusal extended
it to the whole paragraph, with the exception of two or three
sentences, sufficient to declare explicitly the President's opinion
in favor of maintaining the institution, to check the disposition
to abolish it, should it reappear, which was manifested in Con-
gress at their last session.
Mr. Crawford concurred with me in opinion, and observed
that the remarks relating to the West Point Academy were the
less necessary, as no measure was recommended to Congress
in connection with them. He added that he thought there
would be no attempt in Congress against the West Point
Academy at the next session ; that one member only, Colonel
Cannon, had heretofore made efforts against it, without success.
I observed that, besides this, there had been at the last session
of Congress a report of the Military Committee of the House
against it, with some incorrect calculations of its expensiveness,
to its disadvantage. Mr. Crawford did not remember it.
After we left the President's, Mr. Calhoun came to my office
and suggested a wish that I would not press the objection that
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I had opened to the paragraphs in the message concerning the
West Point Academy. He said that the principle of objecting
because no measure was recommended would go great lengths
to expunge much the greatest part of the message, the object
of which was adapted to the existing state of things; and the
intention of the President was strongly to mark his opinions
in support of the institutions of the country.
I said I was not tenacious of the objection, but the message
was very long, and remarks of general speculation upon the
difficulty of keeping young men under proper discipline did
not seem to me to be there in their proper place.
He said they might be omitted. The message was very
long, owing to the President's style of writing, as he was apt to
dwell upon details. The whole substance of this message, for
example, might be compressed into less than half the words in
which he had clothed it.
I shall say no more upon the West Point speculation in the
message. I see the state of Mr. Calhoun's mind, and one of
my motives for the question that I made upon it was to ascer-
tain whether he would be sensitive upon it. I am satisfied. I
have a good opinion of the West Point Academy as a useful
institution, and have no disposition to reduce it, to curtail the
patronage of the War Department — a motive which I believe
instigates those who now assail the establishment, as the patron-
age animates Calhoun in its defence.
27th. At half-past one attended the meeting at the Presi-
dent's. Present, as yesterday, Messrs. Crawford, Calhoun, and
Thompson. The message was again read through by para-
graphs, and various alterations were suggested. I questioned
the use of the word internal as referring to the Conventions
with France, and with Great Britain under the Russian media-
tion, and to the proclamation opening the ports to British
vessels from the Colonies. Also the word supervision as ap-
plied to the Cumberland Road. The part of the message
relating to the affairs of the Treasury Department was on a
separate sheet, in the handwriting of Mr. Crawford. It stated
the receipts of the year as having exceeded the anticipation of
the last, which it does by six or seven millions. But, after
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I08 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November.
addin^j that the income of the year will be more than adequate
to defray its expenses, it proceeds to say that, our exports
having been less in value than our imports, there will be a
reaction, which will occasion a deficiency of revenue in 1824,
though not beyond what the excess of income in 1823 will be
sufficient to cover.
I questioned the expediency of introducing either part of
this prophecy. I said there was no doubt that the value of our
imports this year had largely exceeded that of our exports.
The exportation of specie at least eight or nine millions be-
yond the imports, and the rate of exchange with England
from ten to fourteen per cent, against us, was decisive proof of
that. But whether it would produce a reaction sufficient to
occasion a deficiency of revenue in 1824 was to me too doubt-
ful to hazard upon it a prediction, which if realized will be of
no use, and if contradicted by the event would make matter
for animadversion hereafter. It was looking forward two years,
and although a diminution of revenue is to be expected, yet
there are so many not improbable events which may produce
an opposite result, that I should deem it wiser not to foretell
without necessity.
Calhoun said that eight per cent, of the rate of exchange
was owing to our proportional valuation of gold to silver.
And he further said that although there might probably be a
diminution of the revenue in 1824. it would certainly not be
such as to fall short of the expenditures of the year, so as to
require to be made up by the surplus of 1823.
Crawford said it was looking forward only eighteen months,
as the whole receipts of the year 1824 must be secured before
the 1st of July of that year; that unless a war should break
out in Europe, there was no event within bounds of probability
that could prevent a reaction that must make the revenue fall
short. I had mentioned the contingency of scanty harvests in
Europe, the increase of our trade with South America, and the
annual increase of our population. He said there was no pros-
pect of an improvement in the markets for our principal pro-
ductions. The prices of cotton were continually falling, and
though flour had borne during the present year a good price,
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there was no prospect of its rising, but the contrary. He did
not think much was to be expected from the increase of the
trade to South America, and he had calculated that the increase
of our own manufactures would, in the effect upon our revenue,
about balance that of our population.
Mr. Calhoun observed that, notwithstanding the great im-
portations at New York during the last year, the goods were
going off so fast, and business was so brisk, that it was doubt-
ful whether any diminution of the imports would take place.
Mr. Thompson also took up the objection to the prophecy,
and Mr. Crawford finally gave it up, with a view to introduce
it into his own annual report, where, I told him, I thought it
would be more proper than in the message.
There was a paragraph upon the piratical States of Barbary,
containing severe reflections upon the maritime powers of Eu-
rope for not suppressing the whole system. I asked whether
this would not be offensive to those European powers, without
answering any useful purpose — the more so as there had been
no exercise of the piratical system, so called, since Lord Ex-
mouth's attack upon Algiers. Great Britain had done some-
thing towards the suppression of the system. It had not since
been practised. Would it not seem ill-timed to reproach them
now with not having done more ?
The President .said he had introduced it in connection with
our own exertions to suppress the recent piracies in the West
India seas.
I remarked that the West India piracies and the Barbary
system could hardly come under the same denomination. The
latter was regulated by a principle — it was religious war, pre-
scribed by the Koran, which commanded war against infidels,
with the option to them of conversion or tribute.
Mr. Crawford, to whom this appeared to be new, said that
the Turks acted upon no such principle; as the Porte made no
such alternative a condition of peace with Christian powers.
I said no treaties could be made with them but by presents,
which they doubtless consider as tribute, and if ihey ever made
treaties of peace without them, their plea for justifying them-
selves was necessity — compulsion.
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1 lo MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November.
After some discussion, the President said he would perhaps
omit the paragraph. The message had also several paragraphs
relating to the Greeks, with no little invective upon \\\^ Jiorrible
despotism by which they are oppressed. Mr. Crawford sug-
gested that these might give offence to the Sublime Porte.
I thought it doubtful whether they would ever see the message ;
but he said that there were those who would takfe care to make
them see it. Some passages of high panegyric upon ourselves
were questioned ; and there were two references to the opinion
of the President sent to the House at their last session, upon
the Constitutional power of Congress to make internal improve-
ments, one of which I thought would be sufficient. About
three hours were occupied with these deliberations, and the
President will modify the message as he shall think proper, on
consideration of all the remarks that were made.
28th. Note from the President calling a Cabinet meeting at
half-past one. The object was to consult upon the expediency
of sending the missions to South America, for which appropria-
tions were made at the last session of Congress. There was
much discussion upon this point, in the course of which Mr.
Crawford came out in character with his opinion that the mis-
sions ought to be sent, but that there was less reason for sending
them now than there had been when the appropriations were
made last spring. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Thompson gave no
decisive opinions. Mine has invariably been that we ought to
send none but in return for Ministers sent by them here. Mr.
Crawford said he had understood it was determined last spring
o send none except in that manner. The President said he
lad not so determined, but the appointments had been post-
)oned on various considerations. I observed that those coun-
ries were yet all in a convulsive and revolutionary state. Since
he last session of Congress, Yturbide had by the forms of
election by a Congress, but in fact by military usurpation, made
limself Emperor of Mexico, but without any of the necessary
neans for carrying on his Government. From the accounts
ve have, it is highly probable that his Government will be over-
hrown within a year. In the republic of Colombia, and in
?eru, the Spanish party had rather gained ground this year.
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There had even been a prospect of their re-occupying Lima,
while, on the other hand, the patriot General San Martin
appeared much disposed to react in Peru the part of Yturbide
in Mexico. In Chili there had been a revolution in Govern-
ment, and a Congress called to establish a Constitution. We
had two very diffsirent views of these transactions presented ;
one favorable, by Mr. Prevost — the other much otherwise, by
Jeremy Robinson ; while Commodore Stewart and Mr. Hogan
wrote with the utmost disgust and abhorrence of all the leaders
and ruling men in that country. There had been recently a
conspiracy against the present Government of Buenos Ayres,
and Forbes himself, who has always favored it as the purest
and most liberal that had ever been established there, now
almost despairs of its being able to defend itself From Mexico
we have been informed of the appointment of two successive
Ministers Plenipotentiary, with assurances that they were com-
ing immediately ; but there is no appearance of either of them
yet. Since Mr. Todd has arrived in Colombia, the Vice-Presi-
dent, Soublette, has informed him that probably they would
there prefer to continue the diplomatic intercourse with this
country by Charges d'Affaires, and the newspapers mention
that there is a Mr. Barrierites who has been at the Havanna
and is coming here. The only view for the appointment of
Ministers Plenipotentiary to any of these States is to establish 1
with them commercial treaties, and if they are to be appointed [
with that view it would be necessary to settle some principles
upon which such treaties are to be formed. Mr. Crawford said
they all favored the British commerce more than ours. I said
there was a distinction made in Colombia, of which I had
spoken to Mr; Torres before his death, who assured me he
would write immediately to his Government concerning it.
Mr. Todd is likewise instructed to remonstrate against it.
Torres told me he had no doubt it would be immediately
removed, but he died so soon afterwards, and was then so ill,
that I do not know whether he did write concerning it or not.
Crawford insisted that there were also discriminations to our
disadvantage at Buenos Ayres ; but I think he was mistaken.
Crawford finally said he thought the missions ought all to be
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112 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
sent, except that to Peru, which should be postponed for the
present. He then launched out on the subject of Cuba, and
said that the late French Minister. Hyde de Neuville, before
he went away last June, had made a communication to him
entirely confidential, and which must therefore now be received
as confidential ; which was, that the French Government knew
for a certainty that the British Government had been for two
years negotiating with Spain for the island of Cuba, and had
offered them for it Gibraltar and a large sum of money ; that
there was a British Agent living at the Havanna in great
splendor and with profuse expense; and he closed all by re-
marking what a great misfortune it would be if Great Britain
should get possession of the island of Cuba.
Mr. Calhoun remarked that this story about a magnificent
British Agent at the Havanna had been enquired into by
several commanders of our vessels who had been there, and
they had found there was nothing in it. The President men-
tioned the late correspondence with Duponceau, and asked if
General Mason had left the papers with me. He had not The
President asked me to write to Mason and ask for them. He
repeated also that he thought we ought to have an intelligent
Agent at the Havanna. As Crawford has views upon this sub-
ject which the President does not appear to perceive, I said
nothing about it till after the meeting had broken up, and then
asked what salary he would allow to the Agent proposed to
reside at the Havanna. He said not less than three thousand
dollars a year. I said we could not have an avowed political
Agent thi^re, as not even a Consul is admitted, and if it were
even known that we had a person as political Agent there, he
would be immediately ordered out of the island. The President
said it must be altogether secret. I asked him if he had in his
eye any person who would at once be a trusty Agent and yet
would keep the secret of his being such. Calhoun, who has a
candidate always ready for everything, immediately named
Colonel McRae, who he said was secret as the grave, and
would, by temper, prefer concealing such an appointment to
disclosing it. 1 observed that the secrecy of such an appoint-
ment would not depend upon the Agent alone. A military
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man, going from the United States to reside at the Havanna,
must have some ostensible motive for being there. Calhoun
asked if he could not connect himself with some commercial
establishment. The President named E. Wyer; but it was
now apparent that the appointment of a political Agent to
reside in the island of Cuba is a measure requiring more com-
binations than we are prepared for.
After the meeting was over, Calhoun spoke to me about the
South American missions again. He said he had no opinion
of the measure, and thought if any appointment should be
made it should be with a view to commercialjjegotiations only, (
and that the Ministers appointed should be rigorously bound
by instructions to take no part in the internal struggles of par-
ties at the places to which they will be sent He said he sup-
posed I had seen the course that Crawford intended to take on
this subject. I said I had ; but I did not think he would make
much of it.
30th. Mr. John W. Taylor, member of Congress from the
Saratoga district, State of New York, called on me this morn-
ing and had a long conversation with me. He has been re-
elected to the next Congress in opposition to what they call in
that State a regular nomination. In the National Advocate it
has been stated that he would be a candidate for the office of
Clerk of the House of Representatives; he assured me that he
had not at the time had a thought of it, but asked my advice
whether he should offer himself as a candidate or not. He said
he inclined himself against it ; he thought it would be a descent
from his present station ; but several members had asked him
if he would be a candidate, and had promised him their votes
and support if he should be — even several of his colleagues
who had last year opposed his election as Speaker.
I told him I thought it was the least they could do for him,
by way of reparation for what they had done. I thought with
him that the situation of Clerk of the House, though very
respectable, would carry less consideration than that of a mem-
ber, especially of his long standing, but it was more profitable
and more permanent. With regard to his personal views, I
thought he could take counsel only from himself If he con-
VOL. VI.— 8
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1 1^ MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
eluded to be a candidate, he would have my best wishes, and
any services that it might be in my power to bestow. Upon
public considerations I should prefer to have him remain a
member of the House, believing that he would be more useful
there, and that his sphere of action would be much larger than
in the Clerk's office. He entered very fully into particulars
with regard to his own situation, prospects, and purposes ;
said Mr. Clay was coming to the next Congress with the
intention of making the Speaker's chair a step for his own
promotion to the Presidency; as on the very probable con-
tingency that the election would fall to the House of Repre-
sentatives, his influence in the House, and the "esprit de
corps" in favor of their own Speaker, would operate strongly
upon the members in his favor. But, he said, he had lately
seen Mr. Shaw, formerly a member of Congress from Berk-
shire, Massachusetts, and a very particular friend of Mr. Clay,
with whom he is in correspondence, who told him that he be-
lieved there had been some understanding between Mr. Clay
and me, or between our friends, who would move in concert.
He said he did not wish to draw from me anything I might
wish not to disclose, but his own views at present might in
some sort be influenced by- the knowledge of the facts.
I told him that I had no motive for concealment or hesita-
tion with him. There was no understanding or concert between
Mr. Clay and me on the subject, and never had been. When
Mr. Clay left Congress, two years ago, we parted upon friendly
terms, and although Mr. Clay's political course as a member
of the House had not been remarkably friendly to me, I had
"'^vcr been unfriendly to him. As to the next Presidential
cction, I had no concert or understanding with any one.
He said he had been for some time convinced that there
ould be but one candidate from the North, for although the
ice-President was coming to take the chair of the Senate, and
oclaimed his health restored, he would not be restored as a
indidate. Now, on the score of qualifications and services, if
e South in the present case could not be induced to vote for
e Northern candidate, he considered that their acquiescence
the choice of such a candidate would be postponed indefi-
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i822.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 1,5
nitely. There was no reason to believe it would ci^er be ob-
tained ; because there was no reason for expecting that the
claims of the North would ever stand upon more unequivocal
ground. But at the last session of Congress there were num-
bers of the Northern men, and particularly Holmes, of Maine,
who professed a very high opinion of the Northern candidate,
but always insisting that there was no chance in his favor,
no possibility of his being elected. He had heard during the
recess of Congress frequent conversations to the same effect,
and had constantly maintained the opposite opinion.
I observed that he had never before spoken to me in a man-
ner so explicit on this subject; that I had not known what his
opinions concerning it were, but that intimations had been
given to me that they were favorable to Mr. Crawford, which
I had not credited.
He said that his own wishes were in favor of a Northern
candidate. Should it ultimately appear that the chance of
election in his favor is desperate, he should perhaps incline
to favor that of Mr. Crawford. He had been two years ago
in favor of the reduction of the army, as he understood Mr.
Crawford to have been. He knew not what my opinion had
been, but had heard it was opposed to the reduction. But Mr.
Calhoun had been unjust, and he would say ungrateful, to
him in that transaction ; for it was through his means that Mr.
Calhoun's plan for the reduction had finally been adopted,
in preference to that of the committee of the House.
I said that as to the reduction of the army, I had taken
no part whatever in relation to it. I had inclined against it
because the head of the Department immediately concerned
in it had disapproved it. And as a member of the Adminis-
tration, I had been governed by two general principles : one,
to support to the best of my power the Administration ; and
the other, not to intermeddle with the Departments at the
head of which other persons were placed. I believed Mr.
Calhoun was now sensible he had been misadvised in pre-
venting the election of Taylor as Speaker ; but it was the
prejudice raised by the Missouri slave question that had been
the cause of it.
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1 1 6 MEMOIRS OF yOI/N QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
A few days only elapsed after this entry was made, when
Mr. Clay came out with a remarkable demonstration, somewhat
ambiguous, but scarcely significant of good will to the writer.
As making a part of the history of the time, it will not be out
of place here to insert the two publications drawn out from the
respective parties at this time.
The letter of Mr. Clay was addressed to the editors of the
National Intelligencer at Washington, and was in these words:
Lexington, i6th November, 1822.
Gentlemen, — I have witnessed with very great regret the
unhappy controversy which has arisen between two of my late
colleagues at Ghent. In the course of the several publications
of which it has been the occasion, and particularly in the ap-
pendix to a pamphlet which has been recently published by
the Honorable John Q. Adams, I think there are some errors
(no doubt unintentional) both as to matters of fact and matters
of opinion, in regard to the transactions of Ghent, relating to
the navigation of the Mississippi and certain liberties claimed
by the United States in the fisheries, and to the part which I
bore in these transactions. These important interests are now
well secured, and as it respects that of the navigation of the
Mississippi, left, as it ought to be, on the same firm footing with
the navigation of all the other rivers of the Confederacy, the
hope may be confidently cherished that it never will hereafter
be deemed even a fit subject of negotiation with a foreign
power. An account, therefore, of what occurred at Ghent on
these two subjects is not perhaps necessary to the present or
future security of any of the rights of the nation, and is only
interesting as appertaining to its past history. With these im-
pressions, and being extremely unwilling to present myself at
any time before the public, I had almost resolved to remain
silent, and thus expose myself to the inference of an acquies-
cence in the correctness of all the statements made by bpth
my colleagues; but I have on more reflection thought that it
may be expected of me, and be considered as a duty on my
part, to contribute all in my power towards a full and faithful
understanding of the transactions referred to. Under this con-
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tS22,] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 117
viction, I will at some time more propitious than the present
to calm and dispassionate consideration, and when there can be
no misinterpretation of motives, lay before the public a narra-
tive of these transactions as I understand them. I will not at
this time be even provoked (it would at any time be inexpressi-
bly painful to me to find it necessary) to enter into the field of
disputation with either of my late colleagues.
As to that part of the official correspondence at Ghent
which has not been communicated to the public by the Presi-
dent of the United States prior to the last session of Congress,
I certainly know of no public considerations requiring it to be
withheld from general inspection. But I had no knowledge of
the intentions of the Honorable Mr. Floyd to call for it, nor of
the call itself, through the House of Representatives, until I
saw it announced in the public prints. Nor had I any knowl-
edge of the subsequent call which was made for the letter of
the Honorable Mr. Russell, or the intention to make it, until
I derived it through the same channel.
I will thank you to publish this note in the National Intelli-
gencer, and to accept assurances of the high respect of
Your obedient servant,
H. Clay.
The reply of Mr. Adams follows:
To THE Editors of the National Intelligencer.
Gentlemen, — In your paper of yesterday I have observed
a note from Mr. Henry Clay which requires some notice from
me.
After expressing the regret of the writer at the unhappy
controversy which has arisen between two of his late colleagues
at Ghent, it proceeds to say that in the course of the several
publications of which it has been the occasion, and particularly
in the appendix to the pamphlet recently published by me, " he
thinks there are some errors (no doubt unintentional) both as
to matters of fact and matters of opinion, in regard to the
transactions of Ghent, relating to the navigation of the Missis-
sippi and certain liberties claimed by the United States in the
fisheries, and to the part which he bore in these transactions."
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Il8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [December.
Concurring with Mr. Clay in the regret that the controversy
should ever have arisen, I have only to find consolation in the
reflection that from the seed-time of 1814 to the harvest of
1822 the contest was never of my seeking, and that since I
have been drawn into it, whatever I have said, written, or done
in it has been in the face of day and under the responsibility
of my name.
Had Mr. Clay thought it advisable now to specify any error
of fact or of imputed opinion which he thinks is contained in
the appendix to my pamphlet, or in any other part of my share
in the publication, it would have given me great pleasure to
rectify by candid acknowledgment any such error, of which, by
the light that he would have shed on the subject, I should have
been convinced. At whatever period hereafter he shall deem
the accepted time has-come to publish his promised narrative,
I shall, if yet living, be ready with equal cheerfulness to ac-
knowledge indicated error and to vindicate contested truth.
But as by the adjournment of that publication to a period
" more propitious than the present to calm and dispassionate
consideration, and when there can be no misinterpretation of
motives^ it may chance to be postponed until both of us shall
have been summoned to account for all our errors before a
higher tribunal than that of our country, I feel myself now
calied upon to say that let the appropriate dispositions, when
and how they will, expose the open day and secret night of
the transactions of Ghent, the statements both of fact and
opinion, in the papers which I have written and published in
relation to this controversy, will in every particular, essential
or important to the interest of the nation or to the character of
Mr. Clay, be found to abide unshaken the test of human scrutiny
of talents and of time.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, i8th December, 1822.
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. j ig
January ist, 1823, Wednesday. —
All-gracious Parent ! on my bcnde<l knee
This dawning day I consecrate to Thee,
With humble heart and fervent voice to raise
The suppliant prayer and ever-grateful praise.
To Thee the past its various blessings owes,
Its soothing pleasures, its chastising woes;
To Thee the future with imploring eye
Looks up for health, for virtue, for the sky.
However the tides of joy or sorrow roll,
Still grant me. Lord, possession of my soul.
Life's checkered scenes with steadfast mind to share,
As thou shalt doom, to gladden or to bear.
And oh, be mine, when closed this brief career,
The crown of glory's everlasting year.
2d. At the President's. Met Wirt there. Calhoun after-
wards came in. I took the Anglo- Russian Slave Convention
with me. Salaries of Commissioners and Arbitrators — Can-
ning's proposals, ;^I500 and ;^iocx>; mine, ;?4444 and $3000.
P. U. S. asked me to prepare the papers. I spoke of the nomi-
nations to be made. Note from Eustis, Chairman of the Mili-
tary Committee of the House of Representatives of the United
States, to Calhoun, Secretary of War. Two members of the
committee, with consent of committee, going to examine the
Rip Raps. Asks facilities for them. P. U. S. read to me the
answer he had drawn up for Calhoun. Order to the com-
manding officer to furnish the facilities. Additional para-
graphs. Hints of doubt as to the right of the committee to
send members for this purpose. For impeachment — for ap-
propriations. My idea of the alternative. The doubt should
not be suggested. Positive ground of objection should be
taken, or none. P. U. S. for the first time spoke to me of the
Radicals. His opinion of them. S. Smith's double dealing.
Maryland resolutions not published in the National Intelli-
gencer. Gales and Seaton trimmers for the printing of Con-
gress. John Holmes, S. U. S. from Maine, has seen P. U. S.
about his resolution concerning more commercial intercourse
with the existing Government of Hayti ; explained it away. It
was a trap for me.
5th. Met Gales this afternoon. Asked him, if he should
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120 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
republish my answer to General Smyth, to publish it entire in
one paper. He said they would, but doubted whether he
would republish it at all unless at my wish. I told him I had
no wish on the subject; they would judge for themselves.
6th. Received a note from Gales and Seaton. They will re-
publish to-morrow my answer to General Smyth, which is entire
in the Richmond Enquirer of the 4th.*
7th. I drafted certificates for the exchange of ratifications of
the slave Convention. Evening weekly party, about a hundred.
I gave Mr. Canning the drafts of certificates that I had made for
consideration, and asked him to propose any alteration to them
which he would prefer. He said the forms of certificates had
been sent to him ready prepared, and he could not vary from
them. I replied that it was a matter to be settled by agree-
ment, in which neither party could dictate to the other. I en-
quired of Ellisen, the Russian Charge d* Affaires, whether he had
received forms of the certificates of the exchange. He did not
know, but will call at my office at one to-morrow. I asked
Canning to send me a copy to-morrow of his forms, and said
that if we could accept them we would, and if not, and he could
not vary them, we should protest against them. He said they
were the usual forms. I told him that something beyond the
usual forms would be necessary, particularly the certificate of
delivery of certified copies of the Convention to Ellisen. He
said he had also a form for that. I repeated that if we could
accept his forms we would, but that we could not admit the
right of dictation in either party. He said if false imputations
were made he must repel them. I said I had nothing to do
with false imputations, and abruptly left him.
About half an hour after, I was talking with Addington, his
new Secretary, whom he had this evening presented to me,
when he came up and began to talk upon indifferent subjects.
I asked him for an explanation of what he had meant by using
the words " false imputations," a language to which I was not
« This production was afterwards published, with other papers, by Gales and
Seaton in a pamphlet with the following titles : " Letter of the Hon. John Quincy
Adams in Reply to a Letter of the Hon. Alexander Smyth to his Constituents.
Also, the Speech of Mr. Adams on the Louisiana Treaty, and a Letter from
Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Dunbar relative to the Cession of Louisiana.*'
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 121
accustomed, and would be glad to have the explanation in the
presence of Mr. Addington. He said I had cttarged him with
saying that he would dictate to me the forms of the certifi-
cates. I denied having said any such thing. He said, " Then
it is a mistake." But the tone in which he spoke was pas-
sionate. I again abruptly left him, and soon after he went
away.
8th. At the office the Russian Charge d*Affaires, Ellisen,
and the British Minister, Canning, successively called, about
the exchange of the ratifications of the Convention. Ellisen
had a French translation of the Russian ratification, which is
in the Russian language ; but he had no forms for the certifi-
cate of exchange.
Canning said he would sign the certificate in the form which
I had drawn up, with a slight modification, if I would also sign
the certificate which had been sent out to him ready drawn,
and about which he was anxious, because he was instructed to
send it back. He spoke also of the agreement concerning the
salaries of the Commissioners and Arbitrators, and left with
me a proposition different from that I had last evening given
him. As it appeared probable we could not have all our ar-
rangements completed for the exchange to-morrow, we agreed
that it should be made the day after, at one o'clock.
I called at the President's to take his directions as to the
salaries of the Commissioners and Arbitrators. He proposed
that the British Commissioner and Arbitrator, with the same
salaries as ours, should have an allowance of five hundred
pounds sterling each for the voyage hither, and the same
sums for their return. He spoke of offering the appointment
of Commissioner to L. Cheves, who has just resigned the office
of President of the United States Bank. The President spoke
also of nominating Ministers to Spain, to Mexico, Colombia,
Buenos Ayres, and Chili.
9th. Received a note from the President saying that he
would meet me at twelve o'clock at the Department of State.
I went there accordingly before that time. I received a letter
from General Alexander Smyth, asking the inspection of Mr.
Brearley's printed draft of a constitution, reported to the
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122 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January.
Federal Convention on the I2th of September, 1787. I see at
once his object, which is a new device to trump up a charge
before the public against me. My first impression was to send
him the paper itself, requesting him to return it at hfs con-
venience, and I wrote him an answer accordingly. But, re-
flecting upon the insidious character, as well as the malignity,
of his first attack upon me, and on the evident portion of the
same ingredients in this application, I thought it not safe to
trust the paper with him. I therefore wrote him that the paper
would be submitted to his inspection at the office whenever it
would suit his convenience to call.
The President came at noon about the appointments to Spain,
Mexico, Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili ; to all of which
he has determined to send Ministers, and Mr. Prevost as Charge
d'Afifaires at Peru. He appeared desirous of sending the nomi-
nation in to the Senate to-morrow.
1 0th. Just before breakfast I received a note from the Presi-
dent, desiring me to call upon Mr. Brown, of Louisiana, and
propose to him the mission to Mexico. Immediately after
breakfast I called at his house, but he was already gone to the
Senate. I went to the Capitol; and saw him in the Senate-
chamber, from which we retired into the committee-room. I
told him I was charged by the President to enquire if the mis-
sion to Mexico would be agreeable to him. He expressed his
acknowledgments for the confidence manifested in the offer,
which he declined ; the state of society and the condition of
the country being such that he could not think of taking his
wife there, and he could not think of going without her.
I then told him that this was all I had in charge from the
President, but, as he proposed to nominate Ministers also to
Spain, to Colombia, to Buenos Ayres, and to Chili, I would
ask him of my own authority whether either of them would
suit him better than Mexico. He said, if any one, there would
be less objection to Spain than any of the rest ; the state of
society being better there. But he afterwards said, no, he
should prefer his situation as a Senator, twice conferred upon
him without solicitation on his part, and for which he felt him-
self under the deepest obligations to the people of Louisiana;
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though the state of his health had been such as had almost
induced him, a few days since, to send in his resignation.
I reported to the President this answer, which somewhat
perplexes him for the choice of a Minister to Mexico in place
of Mr. Brown. He is a man peculiarly fitted for that mission, or
indeed any other — a man of large fortune, respectable talents,
handsome person, polished manners, and elegant deportment.
The President had already promised the Spanish mission to
Mr. Hugh Nelson, of Virginia. He spoke of Richard C.
Anderson, of Kentucky, for Colombia, Caesar A. Rodney, of
Delaware, for Buenos Ayres, and Heman Allen, of Vermont,
for Chili.
From the President's I went to the office at one ; and, soon
after, Mr. Canning came with Mr. Parish, and Mr. Ellisen, the
Russian Charge d'Affaires, with Baron Maltitz, and we ex-
changed the ratifications of the Convention signed at St.
Petersburg the 12th of July last. This was the first Conven-
tion ever negotiated by the United States under a mediation,
and of which the exchange was accordingly tripartite. Mr.
Canning was excessively punctilious upon every point of for-
mality ; Mr. Ellisen much less so. We were employed till
six o'clock before the exchange was completed. Mr. Canning
had two certificates of exchange to execute, one with me and
one with Mr. Ellisen. That which I had drawn up was tripartite,
to be executed by all three, and each party to retain one. But
after five or six copies of my draft had been made, and still Mr.
Canning wanted some insignificant transposition of words, re-
quiring new copies, which there was no longer time to make
out, I gave up altogether my draft, and we merely signed a
protocol in French, proposed by Mr. Ellisen, and which
contained all the substance of the certificate that I had drawn
up. It included, of course, an acknowledgment by Mr. Ellisen
of the receipt of the certified copy of the Convention, which,
by its eighth article, was to be delivered by each of the parties
to the Minister or Agent of the mediating power. We com-
pared together all the ratified copies. I held the English rati-
fied copy, and Mr. Brent the Russian ratified copy, which we
were to receive; Mr. Canning held our ratified copy, and Mr.
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124 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
Parish the Russian ratified copy, which were to be delivered to
Mr. Canning; and Mr. Ellisen held our ratified copy, and Baron
Maltitz the British ratified copy, which were to be delivered to
Mr. Ellisen ; each party thus collating the two copies which it
was to retain, Mr. Ironside holding at the same time the original
executed treaty, transmitted by Mr. Middleton. There were
several slight variations between the copies ; none of any
consequence. But there were three explanatory documents in
French only, which in the English copies, and in ours, formed
part of the ratified Convention, but in the Russian were on
separate papers, not within the body of the ratification — ^but
signed and sealed as annexed copies.
Mr. Canning took great exception to this, and insisted upon
having a minute of it entered upon the protocol, as it was. I
executed with Mr. Canning also the agreement for the payment
of the Commissioners and Arbitrators. He accepted the modi-
fication proposed by the President, with some slight alterations.
It was quite dark when I came home to dinner.
As I was coming down this morning from the Capitol, I met
General Smyth, and asked him if he had received my answer
to his letter asking to inspect Mr. Brearley's copy of the revised
draft of a Constitution. He said he had, and would take some
opportunity to call at the office and see it. I told him I should
be glad to be present when he should come, and would thank
him to give me notice of the time — which he said he would.
I ith. When I came to my own office, I found General Alex-
ander Smyth there, with Mr. E. B. Jackson, another member of
the House of Representatives, from Virginia. They were in
my room with Mr. Brent, and Mr. Smyth was inspecting Mr.
Brearley's copy of the draft of a Constitution — was taking a
copy of a passage in it, and writing a certificate under the copy
that he made, which certificate he desired Mr. Brent to sign.
The journal of the Federal Convention was published by a
resolution of Congress under my direction, in the year 1819.
In the section and paragraph enumerating the powers of Con-
gress there are errors of punctuation — errors of the press,
which had escaped my attention. Mr. Smyth now came with
the intention of trumping up a charge against me of having
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intentionally falsified that publication, by introducing a false
punctuation. Smyth was comparing Brearley's printed draft
with the copy of it printed in the journal of the Convention,
and eagerly seeking for variations between them. He found
on Brearley's paper a manuscript minute, " Brought into the
Convention 13th of September, 1787." "The book says on the
1 2th/' said Smyth, and, charmed with his imaginary detection
of a new blunder, wrote his certificate for Brent to sign, that it
was a true copy from the Constitution reported on the 13th of
September, showing the punctuation, obliteration, and amend-
ments. He had written the copy in two different hands, one,
it seems, intended to represent the printed, and the other the
manuscript part of the copy.
Mr. Brent showed me the certificate, asking if he should sign
it, I said the certificate, as written, was not correct. Smyth
said, " It's not true. It is correct." I said the certificate pur-
ported to show the punctuation, obliteration, and amendments,
but did not specify what part was in print and what part in
manuscript. It also stated the Constitution to have been re-
ported on the 13th, while the journal showed that it had been
reported on the 1 2th of September. He said he had taken the
date from what was written on the Brearley paper itself I
then showed by the journal that the report had been made on
the 1 2th, and ordered to be printed for the use of the members,
so that Brearley's manuscript minute, ** Brought into the Con-
vention 13th September," had reference to the printed paper,
and not to the report itself, which had been brought in the day
before.
Smyth then struck out of his projected certificate the 13th
and inserted 12th; but I still objected that as the copy did not
specify what part was print and what part manuscript, it was
not fair for comparison with the printed journal of the Con-
vention, which professedly gave only the printed part of Brear-
ley's paper.
Smyth then cut off his proposed certificate from his copy
and threw the certificate away. I immediately picked it up.
and asked him to let me have the copy itself — which he
refused. He said he meant to keep that himself I might
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126 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
have a fac-simile of it. A fac-simile of the paper was what
he wanted.
I then said that the book had not been printed from the
printed paper, but from a copy of it made at this office, and
which had been returned to it from the printers, and was still
in the office. Smyth said he had what he wanted — the copy
from the original paper.
I then said I was ready to explain any variation which there
might be between the original paper and the printed book, and,
turning to Jackson, I desired him to notice that Smyth had
refused to let me have the copy which he had made ; adding
that I might perhaps be under a necessity of requiring his
testimony hereafter.
This at length brought Smyth to ; Jackson having repeated
to him that I had said I should perhaps hereafter need his
testimony. I then showed to Jackson the copy of Brearley's
paper, which was sent to the printers at Boston, and from which
the book was printed. In this copy the punctuation was not
precisely the same as in Brearley's printed paper, from which it
was copied, but it was the same at the passage upon which
Smyth wished to fix the charge of falsification. Jackson asked
how it was in the copy of the Constitution printed in the first
volume of Bioren's edition of the laws, published under direc-
tion of Mr. Monroe when Secretary of State, and Mr. Rush,
Attorney-General. Smyth said there were some differences of
punctuation in that. I sent for the original roll of the Consti-
tution itself, and for a copy printed from it in 1820 by my
direction and then collated with the roll. The punctuation in
no two of the copies was exactly the same. But the proof
was complete that, in the only passage at which the punctuation
could affect the sense, the copy made at the office and sent to
Boston to be printed agreed precisely with the original printed
paper of Mr. Brearley.
After a long and pertinacious examination of all the papers,
vvhirh were taken for the purpose from my chamber into that
, Smyth declared himself satisfied that he had
1 in his suspicions, and that the error of punctua-
lume of the journal of the Convention, consisting
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 127
in the substitution of a colon for a semicolon — : instead of ; —
and a capital T instead of a small /, was not a deliberate and
wilful forgery of mine to falsify the Constitution and vest abso-
lute and arbitrary powers in Congress, but a mere error of the
press. He took, however, a certified copy from Mr. Brent of
the passage as printed in Brearley's paper, with the punctua-
tion, obliteration, and manuscript interlineations.
Smyth had published in the National Intelligencer of this
morning a long reply, addressed to his constituents, to my
answer to his first charges — a renewed attack upon my father
— a panegyric upon Thomas Paine — a new selection of votes
of mine while I was a member of the Senate — and a dissertation
against hereditary honors. But, mistrusting the effect of all
this, he came to my office high charged with this project of
arraigning me before the public for falsification of public papers
— and this conspiracy of colons and capital letters would have
formed a new impeachment of me before the nation, had he
not found me ready to meet him with irrefragable proof against
his infamous imputation, and had not his own colleague, whom
he had brought with him^ for testimony, signified to him that
he could not sanction his suspicions nor support him against
the evidence that I produced.
This inquisitorial screw lasted at least four hours. That
Providence, without which not a sparrow falleth to the ground,
had preserved the papers from which the book was printed, and
preserved to me the means of complete justification.
Mr. Canning also came, and conversed with me chiefly about
the commercial intercourse with the British Colonies and our
discriminating duties, upon which he said he must write me
a note to ask me a yes or a no. I asked him if he had any
instructions from his Government concerning it. He said he
had not. General Cocke, of Tennessee, came, and, upon being
informed I was engaged with other persons, complained, as
Mr. Maury told me, that he could not obtain access to me, and
refused to wait in the audience-chamber till he could see me.
1 2th. I went to Dowson's and saw Mr. Macon. In making
the appointments to these South American missions, the Presi-
dent wishes to distribute them to citizens of the different parts
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128 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January.
of the Union. He wished particularly to take some distin-
guished notice of North Carolina. It happens that the weight
of talents in that State is with the Federalists, so that the poli-
tics counteract the geography. Among the persons recom-
mended to the President was John Lewis Taylor, now Chief
Justice of the State ; and the President had requested me to
call upon Mr. Macon and make enquiries concerning him.
Last evening I received a note from the President saying it
would be proper in these enquiries to ascertain if Mr. Taylor
is of the Republican party. I made, therefore, that enquiry
among the others. Mr. Macon spoke of Mr. Taylor as of a
man of accomplished manners, but said nothing of any more
elevated qualifications, and as to his politics, he had understood
him to be among the warmest Federalists in the State. But
he added that politics had never been so hostile between the
parties in North Carolina as in either of its neighboring States
of South Carolina or of Virginia, and that Mr. Taylor had
been elected to the oflRce of Chief Justice of the State by a
Legislature of different politics from his own.
On returning home I found a note from the President
requesting me to call at his house this day to confer with him
on the proposed nominations of Ministers. I went to him im-
mediately, and found him very anxious to make the nomina-
tions. I reported to him what Mr. Macon had said of Mr,
Taylor, upon which he said it would not do to nominate him.
He added that it had been a great object of his Administration
to conciliate the people of this Union towards one another and
to mitigate the asperities of party spirit. But in effecting this
he was obliged to consider how far he could yield to his own
dispositions without losing the confidence of his own party.
He would go as far as the public sentiment would support
him ; but to overstep that boundary would be to defeat his
own object. He had concluded to nominate Hugh Nelson, of
Virginia, to Spain, and Richard C. Anderson, of Kentucky, to
Colombia, and C. A. Rodney to Buenos Ayres. For Mexico
and Chili he was yet undetermined.
I mentioned to him General Jackson for Mexico, and John
Holmes, of Maine, for Chili. He received favorably the name
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 129
of Jackson, but doubted whether he would accept, and made
some question whether his quickness and violence of temper
might not, in the opinion of a great part of the nation, make
the expediency of his appointment questionable.
I said that although the language of General Jackson was
sometimes too impassioned and violent, his conduct had always
appeared to me calm and deliberate. Acting under responsi-
bility, I did not apprehend he would do anything to the injury
of his country, and even if he should commit any indiscretion,
he would bear the penalty of it himself, for the nation would
not support him in it. There was another difficulty, which I
thought more serious. He had been unanimously nominated
by the members of the Legislature of Tennessee as a candidate
for the Presidential election. To send him on a mission abroad
would be attributed by some, perhaps, to a wish to get him out
of the way. The President said there was something in that.
As to Holmes, he said, his conduct in the Senate had not been
friendly to the Administration ; of which I was well aware,
as I was that his dispositions were far otherwise than friendly
to me. But I considered him as perhaps the ablest man in the
delegations from New England, and highly qualified for the
public service. I believed also that he would faithfully dis-
charge the duties of any public service abroad. The President
took further time to consider of the subject.
Here is another gap in the record, spreading over more
than two months. It is to be regretted that it should have
happened just when the course of events must have made it
of growing interest. The early movement respecting the suc-
cession to the Presidency has already been shown in these
.pages. The friends pf Mr. Adams were numerous and influ-
ential in the Northern Atlantic States, but they lacked organi-
zation, and complained of his indifference, as well as his neglect
to use certain means of advancing his cause, resorted to with
little hesitation by most politicians in place who are ambitious
of higher promotion. Evidence of this has appeared often in
these pages, particularly in the dinner-table conversation' re-
« Vol. V. p. 297,
VOL. VI. — 9
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IjO MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
ported on the 25th of February, between him and his friend
Mr. Joseph Hopkinson, of Philadelphia. But it was more fully
developed in the summer of 1822, when Mrs. Adams, who had
formed pleasant social relations with the family of that gentle-
man, accepted a friendly invitation to spend some time with
them at a country-place they then occupied on the banks of
the Delaware, at Bordentown, New Jersey. It would appear
that during this sojourn Mr. Hopkinson availed himself of an
opportunity to communicate to her certain views of this tend-
ency of her husband, which might be received by him through
that channel with less hazard of giving offence. It naturally
followed that what was then said in a quiet conversation on a
certain evening might be, after some interval, committed to
paper and addressed to her, after she got home, in the form of
a confidential letter, which she might show to Mr. Adams if
she chose. It has been thought not inappropriate to the purpose
of this publication to insert here the substance of that letter.
Joseph Hopkinson to Mrs. Adams.
Now we are speaking of Bordentown, let me beg you to
consider for a moment that you and I are sitting, with or with-
out a bright moon, as you please, on the piazza looking into
the garden, in familiar chat. In such circumstances we may
say many things which it would be by no means proper to
write to the second lady of the republic, " that shall be first
hereafter.'* I proceed thus :
I think our friend Mr. A. is too fastidious and reserved on a
certain subject, as interesting to the country as to himself; and
in relation to which his friends and the country have a right to
a certain degree of co-operation from him. His conduct seems
to me, as it does to others, to be calculated to chill and depress
the kind feeling and fair exertions of his friends. They are
discouraged when they see a total indifference assumed on his
part ; and the matter is not made better by the suggestion that
it is impossible he can be really indifferent to the event, but
has too much pride and honesty to interfere in directing it
We answer that we do not desire Mr. A. should lend him-
self or his name to any system of petty intrigue or degrading
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 131
machinations, either to injure his competitors or advance his
own pretensions. We would not have him make corrupt bar-
gains, or write or procure to be written skulking letters or ad-
dresses. But, on the other hand, there is a just and honorable
support and countenance he may give to his cause and to those
who maintain it, perfectly consistent with the purest pride
and delicacy, and of which none would complain. He might
communicate much information to be usefully employed in
repelling attacks upon him, or in exhibiting his claims to ad-
vantage; but he seems to disdain any champion but himself,
and to say and do nothing for himself until forced into the field
by the malice or folly of some enemy. I may indeed say that
he is not merely neutral on this subject, but rather shows a
disposition to discourage any efforts in his behalf.
Now, my dear madam, all this won't do. The Macbeth policy
— '• if chance will make me king, why chance may crown me"
— will not answer where little is left to chance or merit, but
kings are made by politicians and newspapers; and the man
who sits down waiting to be crowned, either by chance or just
right, will go bareheaded all his life. I do not mean that the
world is more stupid or unjust than formerly, but we work with
different instruments, and they must be used and resorted to as
well to maintain a just right as to give color to unfounded and
impudent claims and pretensions.
Now, there is our friend W.,' with warm dispositions and
great ability to be useful on this occasion. His journal is daily
gaining a decided influence and ascendency; its circulation is
spreading ; everywhere it is read with increasing avidity, and
he has surprising skill in working up his materials. But I
believe he thinks Mr. A. has rather shown a disposition to
check and discourage his exertions in this cause. It is an
ungracious and weary task to serve another against his will,
and no zeal and devotion can continue it long.
But my speech is quite long enough for a piazza chat, and
I wait for your reply. The children say " turn about is fair
play," especially in conversation, which otherwise is turned
into haranguing.
« Robert Walsh, at this time the editor of the National Gazette, at Philadelphia.
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1^2 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
P. S. — You will understand I would not dare to say or write
half of the above to Mr. A., but you may do what you please
with it.
This letter having been laid before Mr. Adams, drew forth
the following paper in reply:
23d January, 1823.
The Macbeth Policy.
An ingenious commentator upon Shakspeare, in a conver-
sation by moonlight on the piazza, observes that the Macbeth
policy, ** If chance will have me king, why chance may crown
me," will not answer.
A friend who happened, at the moment when this observa-
tion was made, to join in the conversation, and who sometimes
studies the tragedy of Macbeth, with a view to the first and
highest purposes of the drama, to purify his own heart by the
passions of pity and terror, enquires whether this quotation,
•* If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me
Without my siir,'*
can with propriety be denominated the Macbeth policy, and
whether it is not rather a remnant of virtue yet struggling in
the breast of that victim of unhallowed ambition against the
horrible imaginings of that policy by which he finally wins the
crown and loses his life and his soul.
As a test to the enquiry, let us suppose that Macbeth had
adhered to what you call his policy, and waited for chance to
crown him. You say he never would have been king. True.
And of course no tragedy. The Macbeth policy is quite a
different thing, and your quotation is an answer to your
argument.
But in the application of the sentiment to present times and
future events, ought we not to remark that kings and crowns
and chance are all out of the question ? Detur digniori is the
inscription upon the prize, and the choice of ten millions of
people by their delegated agents must award it.
No, say you, little is left to chance or merit. The prize is
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 133
awarded by politicians and newspapers ; and the man who sits
down waiting for it, by chance or just right, will go bareheaded
all his life.
Here we come to the point. The principle of the Constitu-
tion in its purity is, that the duty shall be assigned to the most
able and the most worthy. Politicians and newspapers may
bestir themselves to point out who that is ; and the only ques-
tion between us is, whether it be consistent with the duties of
a citizen who is supposed to desire that the choice should fall
upon himself to assist, countenance, and encourage those who
are disposed to befriend him in the pursuit.
The law of friendship is a reciprocation of good offices. He
who asks or accepts the offer of friendly service contracts the
obligation of meeting it with a suitable return. He who asks
or accepts the offer of aid to promote his own views necessarily
binds himself to promote the views of him from whom he
receives it. Whatever may be the wishes of an individual,
nothing but the unbiassed view of many others can make him
even a candidate for the Chief Magistracy. If he asks or
accepts the aid of one, he must ask or accept the aid of mul-
titudes. Between the principle, of which much has been said
in the newspapers, that a President of the United States must
remember those to whom he owes his elevation, and the prin-
ciple of accepting no aid on the score of friendship or personal
kindness to him, there is no alternative. The former, as it has
been announced and urged, I deem to be essentially and vitally
corrupt. The latter is the only principle to which no exception
can be taken.
If, therefore, I have checked and discouraged the exertions
of Mr. W. in this cause, it has not been from insensibility either
to his kindness, or to his talents, or to his influence ; I have
been unwilling that from motives of personal kindness to me
he should take trouble, incur hazards, and expose himself, and
perhaps his interests, to dangers which it will probably never
be in my power to reward. The rule which I have been com-
pelled to apply to Mr. W. I have been equally obliged to apply
to others. He has never intimated to me the wish or expecta-
tion of return. Others are less delicate. But /am to look not.
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134 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY AdAmS, [January,
merely to what he would expect, but to what I am bound to
think due to an accepted offer.
I do not deceive myself as to the consequences of this prin-
ciple upon the issue of the approaching election. I know that
all are not equally scrupulous, and I remember the connection
between the vox pro republica honesta, ipsi anceps, " legi a se
militem, non emi/* and the fate of Galba. But in the situation
where it has pleased Providence to place me, my first and most
anxious desire is to discharge all my duties. The only way
that I can fulfil these to my country is by services. Those of
friendship can be performed only by forbearing to ask or accept
services importing personal sacrifices and hazards which it may
never be in my power to requite.
Mr. W. is at liberty to pursue in his editorial capacity, with
regard to the Presidential election, that line which his opinions
of the public interest and the sense of his own duty to the
country will dictate. If he thinks it immaterial upon which
of the candidates the choice should settle, perhaps his wisest
course would be a guarded neutrality, rendering justice to all,
and dispensing censure and approbation according to the con-
victions of his own judgment. If upon public considerations
he has made up his mind to support one candidate, it is yet
more congenial to his own spirit of independence and to that
of the candidate whom he may favor that this support should be
given free and unshackled on both sides, than as an offer made
to the candidate for his benefit, and as such accepted by him.
In all my correspondence with Mr. W. hitherto, I have con-
sidered this as a point upon which he had not come to a definite
determination. He had so intimated or declared in an editorial
article of his paper; and the character of his remarks upon
every occasion on which he had noticed me as before the
public, though not unfriendly in the main, and always doing
justice to my intentions, had never struck me as manifesting
partiality of any kind in my favor, nor assuredly as indicating a
preference of me as a possible candidate for the Presidency here-
after. My last letter to him was of the 27th of November last ;
and whatever was said in that to check or discourage exertions
. on his part in my favor, was said either with reference to fUf
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personal interest, and as a return of friendship and confidence
to him, or in answer to observations which he had made in a
private letter to me on certain grounds of support to me which
he had recently appeared to take in his paper, and of the nature
and effect of which he had seemed to wish for ray opinion. I
considered the fact as very uncertain whether even New Eng-
land would unitedly offer me as a candidate, and I doubted the
correctness of the principle upon which it was supposed I
should be supported by that section of the Union and opposed
by another. Let us have sectional sympathies, if you please ;
but let us distrust even them ; and let us indulge no sectional
antipathies. Expose them where they operate, but set not one
prejudice in array against another.
When I said that Mr. W. had indicated in his editorial ca-
pacity no decided preference for me as a probable candidate for
the Presidency, I spoke with reference to the time when the
last letters between him and me were written. Since then he
has spoken more distinctly ; and if I am to consider him as
wishing to support me for a candidate with his editorial influ-
ence, I would beg to offer him the following advice :
First, to wait till it shall be ascertained whether I am to be
a candidate at all. Great exertions have for years been sys-
tematically making to exclude me from that position altogether.
I have done and shall do nothing to place myself in it. Perse-
cuted by calumny in its basest and most insidious forms, I have
more than once defended myself in the face of the nation ;
whether successfully or not, the nation and posterity are to
judge. But surely to parry the daggers of assassins is not to
canvass votes for the Presidency. In no part of the Union, not
even in my native New England, has there been an unequivocal
manifestation of a public sentiment disposed to hold me up. as
a candidate. If that feeling does not exist, and in a force which
no effort of intrigue can suppress or restrain, it would be a use-
less, and perhaps worse than useless, thing for a few personal
friends of mine to attempt to produce it. The opinion has
gone abroad throughout the Union that I shall have no support
I have no decisive evidence that the voice of the people in any
quarter of it is in my favor. The Richmond Enquirer, the
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136 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
leading paper of the Presidential canvass, pronounced me,
eight months ago, hors de combat. And although it has since
admitted that it might possibly be otherwise, it allows me no
partisans but those who think I had been wronged in the diplo-
matic feud. In Massachusetts I am no favorite of the (federal)
majority. In the rest of New England the Republicans are
lukewarm and distrustful of success. My career has attached
no party to me precisely because it has been independent of
all party. "All rising to great place,*' says Lord Bacon, "is
' by a winding-stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a
man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself
when he is placed." I have neither ascended by the winding-
stair nor sided myself in the rising; and the consequence has
been that all parties disown me — the Federalists as a deserter,
the Democrats as an apostate. I have followed the convictions
of my own mind with a single eye to the interests of the whole
nation; and if I have no claims to the suffrages of the whole
nation, I have certainly none to those of either party. This
independence of party will always in warm, factious times be
mistaken and misrepresented by common politicians for un-
steadiness of principle; and the man who acts upon it must
make his account to stand or fall on broader grounds than lie
within the bounds of a geographical subdivision, and with
other props than political sectarianism or individual intrigue.
If your watch has no main-spring, you will not keep time by
turning round the minute-hand. If I cannot move the mass,
I do not wish to trifle with the indicator. Against me I have
in every section the passions and prejudices peculiar to its
own situation and circumstances, and everywhere party spirit,
wielded by personal rivals and adversaries, and working by
misrepresentation and slander.
With all these weights bearing me down, where is the buoy-
ant principle that is to bring me up? Is it for me to say, My
talents and services ? And what else can be said by any of my
friends ? My wishes are out of the question. If I am to be a
candidate, it must be by the wishes, ardent and active, of others,
and not by mine. Let Mr. W. then first wait for proof that
there is a strong public interest in my favor.
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 137
Secondly, if this point should be ascertained beyond all ques-
tion, and Mr. W. should think proper to take an active part in
promoting the election, whatever information he may desire he
can obtain either by direct communication with me or from my
friends, with whom he is also in relations of friendship.
Thirdly, if his disposition be to befriend me, and the influence
of newspapers be as powerful as you suggest, would it not be
advisable to observe the course of other newspapers, and en-
deavor to harmonize, or at least not to conflict, with those
which appear disposed to support the same cause ?
With this explanation, I hope Mr. W. will be satisfied that
any coolness with which I may have received his proffers and
dispositions of kindness has been the result of a real kindness
to himself, as well as of rigid principle. If my countrymen
prefer others to me, I must not repine at their choice. Indif-
ference at the heart is not to be won by wooing. The services
that have no tongue to speak for themselves would be ill aided
by the loudest- trumpet. Merit and just right in this country
will be heard. And in any case, if they are not heard " without
my stir," I shall acquiesce in the conclusion that it is because
they do not exist.
The diary recommences on the 2d of June. The next few
pages are taken from what appear to be minutes of important
events, to refresh recollection in case the writer should be able
to find some later time to write out the particulars — which
he never did.
March 14th. Cabinet meeting. Calhoun and Thompson pres-
ent; Crawford absent, unwell, and Wirt engaged in Supreme
Court. War between France and Spain. What to be done ?
Agent in Cuba, Hernandez ; P. U. S. to see him. Calhoun's
anxiety. Information to be obtained. Consistency with what
we have done to be observed. Fears of what England may
do. Prospects of Spain. Danger of treachery.
15th. The Baron Maltitz was at my house, to announce the
arrival of Baron Tuyl, the Russian Envoy at New York. Ex-
pects him here next week. Cabinet meeting at two; Calhoun
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138 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
and Thompson only present. Cuba. P. U. S. has seen Her-
nandez, who is going to the Havanna; not as Agent; what
to do ? Calhoun for war with England, if she means to take
Cuba. Thompson for urging the Cubans to declare themselves
independent, i/" they can maintain their independence. I assume
for granted that they cannot maintain their independence, and
that this nation will not, and could not, prevent by war the Brit-
ish from obtaining possession of Cuba, if they attempt to take
it. The debate almost warm. Talk of calling Congress, which
I thought absurd. Memorandum — to be cool on this subject.
17th. Note from P. U. S. At the office. R. S. Coxe, with
many recommendations, to be appointed Agent under the
slave Commission. Wirt, to suggest G. Hay for the same
appointment. Hernandez, going to the Havanna. The Spanish
documents at St Augustine. He read the pamphlet from Cuba.
Burt, about his inventions and projects. Clay, to take leave ;
going to Philadelphia (and to New York). Wants a special
Supreme Court U. S. to try the Kentucky cause over again ;
thinks all the present Judges but one superannuated. Salvo
for the Chief Justice.
European politics — Spain. Cabinet meeting. Calhoun,
Thompson, Wirt, present; Crawford absent, unwell. Cuba.
Meade's information about Anduaga's report to his Govern-
ment against H. Nelson.* A letter from one Ross to Thomp-
son. British projects upon Cuba. P. U. S. proposes to offer
to G. Britain a mutual promise not to take Cuba. Objec-
tions by Calhoun and me. Thompson inclines to it. Wirt
unprepared for an opinion. Calhoun thinks nothing can be
obtained by it. I suppose the answer would be a proposal of
quantity to Spain, and that we should plunge into the whirl-
pool of European politics. No conclusion.
27th. Canning read me three notes — Duke of Wellington to
Montmorency, offering mediation of Great Britain between
France and Spain ; Montmorency's answer declining the medi-
ation ; and G. Canning's reply to it, addressed to the Charge
d'Affaires of France. Expressed my gratification at the sub-
stance of this correspondence. Spoke something of the slave-
' Hugh Nelson, of Virginia, the new Minister to Spain.
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trade note, of the slave indemnity note, and of the Colonial
trade navigation. Canning earnest about them all.
April 2d. At the office a Captain B. Turner came, with a
claim for having brought home ninety-six seamen prisoners
from Jamaica during the late war. Cabinet meeting; full.
Agent to Cuba. Calhoun for a war to prevent Great Britain
from taking Cuba if the islanders are united against it.
8th. At the office. President there. His note directing me
to write to H. Nelson to go to Norfolk and embark immedi-
ately in the Hornet for Spain; to counteract Anduaga's mis-
representations. Dispatches from R. Rush, 20th February,
and speculations. President says G. W. Erving wishes to go
to France, and to have some authority as substitute in Mr.
Gallatin's absence; thinks he cannot be gratified.
9th. I was occupied in preparing the draft of H. Nelson's
instructions ; to answer Anduaga's invective. At Secretary of
the Navy's Office, enquiring for several papers, some of which
were furnished me ; to wait for others. Note from the President
to write to A. Gallatin, advising him to stay in the crisis.
June 2d. Mr. Canning came, and stayed till I was called to
dinner ; coming again to-morrow ; spoke of the appointment
of an Arbitrator for the question under the fifth article of the
Treaty of Ghent; urges the nomination of an umpire, but
names none ; means the King of the Netherlands.
I mentioned the instructions preparing for Mr. Rush ; the
Colonial trade intercourse ; suppression of the slave-trade ; the
Ghent article ; the Russian Ukase about the Northwest coast ;
the controversial points of maritime law ; Cuba pirates, South
America, and the European alliance.
Asks about the average for the slave indemnity. I know not
how to make it up. Much conversation upon the Colonial
intercourse; extreme dissatisfaction of the English merchants
here at our retaining the discriminating duties. Suppose the
Order in Council prohibiting the intercourse should issue, what
would be the condition of the trade ?
4th. Mr. Canning ; at least three hours of conversation with
him. Went over all the subjects of the negotiation to be pro-
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I40 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
posed to the British Government — Colonial intercourse; sup-
pression of the slave-trade ; the Ghent Commission ; Boundary;
Maritime law questions; South America, and the Russian
Northwest Coast Ukase. He pressed for the nomination of
an Arbitrator.
I named the Emperor of Russia, to which he was not in-
clined to accede. Told him the King of the Netherlands was
his King's cousin. Proposed to agree upon a line by com-
promise. His scruple. State rights — Maine, Massachusetts,
Vermont, New York. Mode in which the arbitration must be
conducted. Impossible for any sovereign to examine the ques-
tion personally. Told him I was answering his slave-trade
letter, and how. He said he should have some fun. Would
take six months to rejoin. It would all come to nothing.
Spoke of the piracy project. I asked him what had been done
by the allies at Verona about it. He did not know. Men-
tioned the rolled and hammered iron affair. McLane and the
committee were unanimous, he said, for removing the inequality.
I asked him why, then, they did not report. Told him I had
spoken to Newton, who was against it. He spoke resentfully
of Newton. Complained of delay by me — unreasonably. On
the search at sea, he said that Gorham, Mercer, and Hemphill
were for it; but I had frightened Hemphill out of his wits by
telling him it would surrender the flag. This conversation was
altogether desultory — excessively guarded, as usual, on his
part, and somewhat provocative on mine ; purposely, because
nothing is to be got from him but by provoking him.
5th. Met, at the Oratorio at the Unitarian Church, C. F.
Mercer; came here for the Colonization Society's meeting.
Talk about the slave-trade. Says he could have carried by a
large majority the resolution at the end of his report. All the
speakers of the House, except some of the Virginians, were for it
— Gorham, Hemphill, Sergeant, Colden, Cannon, Cocke, Hamil-
ton, of South Carolina, Mitchell, of South Carolina, all for it.
This list is very remarkable, and I thank Mercer for it. A union
of Crawfordites, federalists, Clintonians, and Lowndesians turned
Calhounites, would have had something else in view besides the
slave-trade in that vote. It is a warning to me to persevere.
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Mercer said that Wright could not be kept in, and so pro-
posed to put up a portrait of Lord Castlereagh in the hall of
the House of Representatives. That would not do. He said,
too, he hoped we should not quh the English Government
about the Irish piracy, but propose it to them seriously, though
he had no idea of ever executing the Act. He agreed with
me that we should never hang any man under it. I told him
we were treating of it with the British Government very gravely.
6th. Cabinet meeting at one. All present. My instructions
to R. Rush on the Colonial intercourse considered. No ob-
jection to them, except to one assertion in two places, noticed
by Crawford, as not exactly correct, though, he said, it was of
no importance. Very little was said of it, though Crawford
said it was exactly conformable to the Act of Congress. Some
question as to the comparative number of British and American
vessels now concerned in the trade. Crawford said he could
send me the statement of them for the first six months since
the opening of the trade.
Then came the question about the reference to a friendly
sovereign of the difference between the Commissioners under
the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent. It was determined I
should name the Emperor of Russia, if a nomination should
be insisted on ; but if they agree to negotiate, we are not ready
to mark a line. There was much talk about the northwest
angle of Nova Scotia and the northwesternmost head of Con-
necticut River, upon both which points the Commissipners
differ. There was no result from all this. The meeting broke
up about four.
9th. I received a message from the President requesting me
to call immediately at his house. Found Mr. Crawford and
Mr. Thompson, Secretary of the Navy, there. Crawford had a
private letter from J. Forsyth, who has arrived at New York.
Mr. H. Nelson, upon hearing this, went from Wilmington to
New York to see him. Forsyth, on being informed that Rodney,
Minister to Buenos Ayres, was going out in the same frigate
with Nelson, told Nelson that this incident would procure him,
at least, a very cool reception in Spain. I had been so sensible
of the danger of this that I had insisted the frigate should not
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142 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QU/NCY ADAMS, [June,
go to Cadiz, but to Gibraltar, and land Mr. Nelson there. For-
syth thought this would not mend the matter, but urged Nelson
to land at Madeira, and find his way as well as he could thence
to Spain ; or not to go in the frigate at all, but to embark and
go to Spain in a merchant vessel.
All this Mr. Forsyth wrote to Mr. Crawford, and it had made
the President uneasy. I told him that I had thought it would
have been better if Mr. Nelson and Mr. Rodney had gone in
different vessels, and that I had, even while he was in Virginia,
instructed Mr. Nelson to go to Gibraltar. But, as Mr. Rodney
would not go within the Spanish jurisdiction, I did not think
the affair of importance enough to break up Mr. Nelson's voy-
age, or to change it to Madeira; either of which would rather
draw more public attention to an incident unimportant in itself
and which may otherwise pass unnoticed. He concluded to
take no further order concerning it.
loth. Received a note from Mr. Salazar announcing his ar-
rival in the city with a commission as Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary from the republic of Colombia,
and asking an interview. I appointed three o'clock to receive
him at the office of the Department of State. He came, and
delivered to me a letter from Don Pedro Gual, Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs of the republic of Colombia, and a
copy of a credential letter from the Vice-President of the re-
public, acting Executive, and addressed to the President of
the United States. Mr. Leandro Palacios came with him, and
brought a commission as Consul-General of the republic in
the United States. I told Mr. Salazar I would take the Presi-
dent's directions as to the time when he would receive him.
Salazar speaks a very little English, and a little more French.
He told me he was a literary man, and had read some of my
writings. His Secretary, Mr. Gomez, he has left unwell at
Philadelphia; also his wife and child.
Mr. Canning came, and had an hour's conversation with me.
Showed him R. Rush's dispatch of 7th April, 1822. Aver-
age for the slaves. I called at the President's, and mentioned
Salazar's request of an audience. He appointed the day after
to-morrow, at one, to receive his credentials.
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nth. Began a draft of an instruction to R. Rush upon the
Northern boundary and the disagreement of the Commissioners
under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent. Note to Mr.
Salazar informing him that the President would receive his
credential letter to-morrow. Baron Tuyl at the office. He
has a packet to send to Count Lieven. And he reminded me
of my promise about a newspaper paragraph concerning the
Northwest Coast negotiation. Kankey came, and I dispatched
him with a certificate as Consular Commercial Agent at Bar-
badoes, and instructions. He is to sail from Georgetown to-
morrow.
Mr. Crawford sent to ask me to call at the Treasury Office,
which I did. It was to object to drafts upon the Treasury
payable to Mr. Maury, as Agent for disbursements of the
State Department, which, under the law of the last session of
Congress, he said, could only be paid as advances and by
express direction of the President in every particular case.
He said also it was an innovation, excepting as to the contin-
gent expenses of foreign intercourse. But the innovation con-
sists only in this, that now a regular account of all the other
disbursements under the direction of the Department of State
is kept at the Department itself as well as at the Treasury,
while the disbursements were formerly made, and no account
of them kept, but at the Treasury. The draft to which Mr.
Crawford now took exception was upon the appropriation of
a hundred thousand dollars for carrying into execution the late
treaty with Spain, placed by the law at the disposal of the
President, and by written direction from him charged to the
care of the Department of State. Crawford asked why it
would not have been better to have left it to the Treasury. I
said because a great portion of the expenditures being discre-
tionary they could nof^pass, according to the ordinary rules
of settlement at the Treasury ; but that if the Treasury officers
would pass them I should be glad to transfer them all over.
I added that, however preferable a different course might have
been, that was the course which had been adopted. With
regard to the expenditures under the Treaty Commissions, I
saw no reason why they should not be transferred entirely to
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144 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCE ADAMS, [June,
the Treasury, and I would direct Mr. Maury to close all those
accounts, and refer all future claimants upon them to the
Treasury. Mr. Crawford said he would obtain the President's
order for the warrant which was required yesterday upon the
Florida Treaty appropriation.
1 2th. At one o'clock I attended at the President's, and there
presented to him Don Ignacio Maria Salazar, as Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the republic of
Colombia, Mr. Leandro Palacios, and a youth named Valenilla.
After the presentation, and some short indifferent conversa-
tion, Mr. Salazar said to the President, "Sir, as I know that
the Secretary of State perfectly understands Spanish, and will
explain to you what I shall say, if you will permit me, I will
make you a speech in my own language ;" and then proceeded
immediately to deliver in oratorical style a speech about ten
minutes long; which he concluded in the professional manner
with, ** I have said.'*
I then observed that he had given me credit quite undeserved
in supposing me master of the Spanish language, of which I
had scarcely any knowledge whatever. But I interpreted as
much of the speech as I had understood, and Salazar himself
said it was in substance correct.
The President answered him with friendly assurances, re-
viewing the course of policy observed by the United States
with regard to the independence of Spanish America, which had
always been as favorable as was consistent with their neutrality.
He referred to their acknowledgment of the independence of
Colombia, and to the instructions which had been given to all
the Ministers of the United States in Europe for promoting as
much as possible the same acknowledgment by the European
powers.
As Mr. Salazar withdrew, I mentioned to him the list of his
delegation to be sent by him to the Department of State.
Soon after I returned to the office Dr. Thornton came, and
said Mr. Salazar would publish in the newspapers his speech to
the President, and would be glad to have his answer to publish
with it. He brought a copy and translation of the speech, and
said Mr. Salazar had assured him the effect in Colombia of the
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publication of the President's answer would be very great
indeed.
I took the papers, and promised to show them to the Presi-
dent to-morrow, and to refer to him the request for a copy of
his answer.
13th. Mr. Salazar and Mr. Palacios came to the office, and
had before called upon the President, who received them.
They had spoken to him about the printing of Salazar's speech
to him, and of his answer. I took the copy and translation of
the speech to the President, who hesitated as to the propriety
of his authorizing anything that he said in answer to be pub-
lished.
I mentioned to him the precedent in the speech of the French
Minister Adet to President Washington, and his answer. I
noticed also the publication by Mr. Onis of his speech to
President Madison on being received by him ; but in that case
the President's answer was not published.
Mr. Calhoun came in, and, on being consulted, thought the
answer of President Washington to Adet was a precedent
which might be safely followed now.
14th. Dr. Thornton came again upon the subject of the pub-
lication of Mr. Salazar's speech and the President's answer.
He said he had mentioned to Mr. Salazar that it was not usual
here, and there might be some objection to it on that account.
He said that Mr. Salazar had then read to him a passage from
his instructions, in which he was directed to publish in the
newspapers the speech that he should make upon his reception.
I observed to the Doctor that in all this we were sure there
was no ill intention; but the instruction itself to a Minister
going to a foreign Government, to publish in the country of
that Government any part of his correspondence with them,
was exceptionable. Mr. Salazar might have been instructed to
send to his own Government a copy of his speech, and they, if
they saw fit, might have published it ; but an instruction to him
to publish in the newspapers of this country might lead to
unpleasant results.
I called at the President's, and he drew, upon advisement
with me, a short paragraph, stating in general terms the sub-
voL. VI. — 10
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146 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
Stance of his answer, which he authorized me to give to Mr.
Salazar for publication. The President thought that Dr. Gual,
now Minister of Foreign Affairs to the republic of Colombia,
retained a feeling of acrimonious resentment for the defeat of
his Amelia Island project, and infused some of his animosity
into his instructions; but he said he did not believe Mr. Salazar
partook at all of that feeling. He seemed a fair and candid
man, altogether friendly to this country.
I returned Mr. Salazar's visit at Brown's Hotel, and left a
card for Mr. Palacios. I gave back to Mr. Salazar the copy
and translation of his speech, and the paragraph containing the
substance of the President's answer. We had some conversa-
tion upon the Constitution of the republic of Colombia, in
which he expressed strong opinions against a federal Govern-
ment as inapplicable to that country ; and of the liberty of the
press as dangerous in the present state of things.
Baron Tuyl came to the office, and communicated in confi-
dence that he had received a dispatch from Count Lieven, the
Russian Ambassador in England. It announces the decided
stand taken for neutrality to the war between France and Spain
by Great Britain, and the proposal made by France to carry on
the war without privateering. The subject was still in nego-
tiation.
i6th. I finished the draft of a letter of instructions to R.
Rush upon the disagreement between the Commissioners
under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent and the Northern
boundary ; and began one upon the admission of Consuls into
the British Colonial ports. The importance of all the subjects
that I am discussing grows upon me, and time sinks under the
pressure of my occupations. I have now less than two years, at
the utmost extent, to continue in my present office. The great
object of my desire is to leave the business of the office in a
situation as advantageous as possible for the country. I task
my faculties to their full endurance for this purpose. The head
and heart need aid and guidance. May they not be wanting !
17th. Dr. Thornton called at my house, and told me that
Mr. Salazar had waited here only for the publication of his
speech in the National Intelligencer. It was published this
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morning. He said also that Mr. Salazar had applied to the
President, enquiring if we had not an old frigate we could sell
to the republic of Colombia. The President had told him
there was the Java, which would be sold at auction, and might
be purchased for the republic of Colombia, or otherwise : the
Government could not enquire for whom, or on whose account.
At one o'clock I presented to the President Mr. Stratford
Canning, the British Minister, on his departure for England,
upon leave of absence. The interview was rather longer than
is usual upon such occasions, but passed, as usual, in mere com-
pliments, personal and political.
After we withdrew from the drawing-room apartment, in
which he was received, to the next room, I had a long con-
versation with him. He spoke again of the average value of
the slaves to be paid for by the Convention of 12th July,
1822, and upon the suppression of the slave-trade; also upon
the general proposition for negotiation upon various points
which I have in contemplation. I told him that my answer to
his last note upon the suppression of the slave-trade was before
the President for consideration, and gave him the general out-
lines of my plan. He appeared to be uneasy at the idea that
in my reply the subject of impressment would be discussed,
and said he hoped, in the disposition between the two Govern-
ments so strongly tending towards conciliation, whatever was
of an irritating character might be avoided. He intimated, as
in candor, that the proposition to Great Britain to pass a law
would excite some feeling, and that, in proposing to treat on
the subjects of maritime law, the form of suggestion that Great
Britain might have changed her principles would be less accept-
able than if it were made in general terms.
I observed that in all her negotiations for the suppression of
the slave-trade Great Britain not only asked the powers with
whom she treated to pass laws, but made it a matter of express
stipulation in the treaties; and in supposing that she might
now view more favorably than heretofore the interests of neu-
trality, I had no thought of asking her to change her princi-
ples, but supposed that the difference of her position would
necessarily produce different views.
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1^8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [June,
Mr. Canning proposed to introduce to me Mr. Addington,
as the Charge d' Affaires during his absence. When he with-
drew I rejoined the President, and told him the substance of his
observations.
1 8th. At the President's. Took with me the draft of in-
structions to R. Rush on the Northern boundary, the reports of
the two Commissioners, the two rejected general maps, and the
sheet of Mitchell's Map, containing the boundary line as there
marked. I also desired him to determine something concern-
ing the average value of slaves, referred to in the Convention of
1 2th July, 1822.
He wrote a note to the heads of Departments, requesting a
meeting on this subject to-morrow, and also that the member
who should have the papers relating to the suppression of the
slave-trade would bring them with him.
19th. There was a Cabinet meeting at the President's at one
o'clock. Messrs. Crawford, Calhoun, and Thompson present ;
Mr. Wirt absent. My project of a Convention for the suppres-
sion of the slave-trade, answer to Mr. Canning, and instruction
to R. Rush were first considered. Mr. Crawford and Mr. Cal-
houn started objections on various grounds — Crawford to the
argument in the letter to Canning against the right of search,
which, he said, was completely given up in the project of Con-
vention, and therefore the argument might be represented by
the British as a mere declamation against a practice which the
project essentially conceded. This objection had weight, and
I had been fully aware of it in drawing up the papers. But two
objects were to be aimed at in them : one, fully to justify the
repugnance which we have heretofore manifested against the
right of search as practised by Great Britain in war ; the other,
to carry into effect the resolution of the House of Representa-
tives recommending negotiation to obtain the recognition of.
the slave-trade to be piracy by the law of nations. To piracy,
by the law of nations, search is incident of course, since wher-
ever there is a right to capture there must be a right to search.
The end desired by the resolution of the House of Repre-
sentatives cannot be obtained without conceding the right so
far of search, and all that is left us is to keep it still inflexibly
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within the class of belligerent rights, as exercised only against
pirates, the enemies of all mankind. It was therefore that in
my project of Convention the first article assumes as a fact that
both parties have declared the slave-trade piracy, and my in-
structions to Mr. Rush are not to offer it but after an Act of
Parliament declaring the slave-trade to be piracy.
Mr. Calhoun's objection was to the admission of the right of
capture by foreign officers at all, as weakening us upon the
general objection to conceding the right of search. Mr. Thomp-
son did not think the right of search conceded in the project
at all. The search for pirates had, he said, absolutely nothing
in common with the search of neutral vessels.
Much discussion which I cannot record.
Mr. Calhoun thought we should at once say we will never
concede the right of search for slaves unless Britain will re-
nounce search for her seamen in our vessels in war. I said I
was willing to make one the condition of the other.
It was finally understood by the President that the project,
much as drafted, should be proposed^ provided the British
make the offence capital by Act of Parliament, and not be
communicated in detail to the British Government without
that.
Crawford hinted at an additional guard: that lists of the
vessels authorized to capture the slave-traders should be
mutually furnished. But it would be very inconvenient to us,
as instructions of capture are issued to all our cruisers.
The project is to go, but the letter to Mr. Canning is to be
modified.
Upon the subject of the average value of the slaves carried
away, and to be paid for, it was determined that we have not
the necessary information, and that it must be left to be fixed
by the Commissioners or otherwise, according to the Conven-
tion. After the other members of the Administration had
withdrawn, I requested of the President to mark the passages
of the draft to Mr. Canning which he would have omitted —
for which purpose he kept the papers.
20th. Note from the President to call at his house. He read
over the part of the draft of my reply to Mr. Canning, which
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I JO MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
he thinks should be sent, and suggested the substance of a
substitute for what he would omit.
I told him all my motives for writing the draft as it was, and,
among the rest, that of exhibiting to the people of this country
and to the world the real grounds of objection to the right of
search. I reminded him particularly of the appearance that
in Congress a combination of parties was endeavoring to turn
this into a party question. They had twice reported against
the opinion of the Executive; and, from the names of the per-
sons mentioned to me by Mr. Mercer as willing to support
his project, I was satisfied that views unfriendly to his Admin-
istration, and personally so to me, were mingling themselves
with this subject. It had appeared to me that an exhibition of
the grounds upon which the aversion of this Government to
conceding the right of search was founded would at once serve
for its justification, and guard against the prevalence of a dis-
position in Congress to counteract the views of the Executive.
The President said he was aware of this tendency to an oppo-
sition in the House, and that he wished the whole of that part
of my draft to Mr. Canning which he proposed to omit should
be inserted in the instructions to Mr. Rush. It would all be
fully justified in the sentiments of this country; but in urging
upon Great Britain her adoption of our plan instead of her own,
he wished to avoid everything which, by irritating them, might
give the British Ministers the opportunity of imputing insin-
cerity or ill will to us. He wished to gain over to our views
Mr. Wilberforce and his party, and to discard for that purpose
all that, by touching their national pride, would turn them
against us. By addressing to Mr. Rush that part of my reply
to Mr. Canning, the whole will in proper time be communi-
cated to Congress, and it will there have all its effect, without
giving any cause of complaint to the British Ministry.
I requested him to mark with a pencil the part of my draft
which he would wish to have transferred, and to sketch what
he would have substituted in the reply to Mr. Canning ; which
he promised he would. I told him that my whole project
had been merely formed for his consideration, to carry into
effect the resolution of the House of Representatives, and to
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meet the urgent pressure of the British Government concern-
ing the slave-trade. My object was to give all the aid in my
power to his measures, and I wished not one line of my writing
to go forth that should not have his hearty approbation.
The consequence of this distribution of my reply to Canning
is that it is incomplete, a half reply to himself, and half ad-
dressed to Mr. Rush, where it seems inappropriate. No use of
it could be made by him in England, for the same reason that
it is not to be addressed to Mr. Canning here. For his own
conviction it can neither be necessary nor of any use; and to
send it to England, merely that it may be hereafter communi-
cated to Congress, is taking a route more circuitous than ap-
pears to be necessary. The President approved the whole of
the draft of instruction upon the Northern boundary.
At the office. Baron Tuyl came again to press for a news-
paper paragraph about the Russian Ukase, and brought a
Washington Gazette, with a paragraph taken Irom the Boston
Sentinel, purporting to be a letter from Washington, which
the Baron thought would be annoying to the Emperor. He
said the Emperor entered much into the spirit of the age, and
was solicitous to stand fair in public opinion. I took the paper,
and told him I would prepare a paragraph on the subject.
Mr. Canning came to ask me to fix a time to receive him, to
present Mr. Addington as Charge d'Affaires. I enquired when
he intended to leave the city. He said, next Tuesday. I fixed
Monday at two o'clock to receive him.
He asked if I had any further communications to make to
him respecting the instructions for negotiation that I proposed
transmitting to Mr. Rush. I told him of the French fishery
question, the subject and situation of which I explained to him
at large. I had not mentioned it to him before. He then took
from his pocket a written minute of my first conversations with
him concerning these proposed negotiations, which he read
over to me with a view to ascertain its correctness. I made
several remarks upon it, and we were led into a long further
conversation concerning it. From the view that he had taken
of all my remarks, he seemed desirous of considering it as a
proposal to Great Britain for an alliance with the United States.
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152 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
This I told him distinctly that it was not He had in his
minute mentioned the remark with which I had almost com-
menced these conferences, that I considered the European
alliance as virtually dissolved.
I observed that my expressions might have been as strong
as that, but their meaning was limited by the general object of
the conversation. I had meant to say it was virtually dissolved
so far as Great Britain was a party to it. I did not mean to
say I thought it dissolved as to the Continental powers. I
wished I could think it was. But Great Britain had separated
herself from the counsels and measures of the alliance. She
avowed the principles which were emphatically those of this
country, and she disapproved the principles of the alliance,
which this country abhorred. This coincidence of principle,
connected with the great changes in the affairs of the world,
passing before us, seemed to me a suitable occasion for the
United States and Great Britain to compare their ideas and
purposes together, with a view to the accommodation of great
interests upon which they had heretofore differed.
The minute had also noted my remark that it had always
been the policy of the United States to keep aloof from the
European system of politics, but had omitted the observation
made at the same time, that this had also been the policy of
Europe towards us. I said that the first part of this position,
taken by itself, might import an unsocial and sulky spirit on
the part of the United States, which I did not intend to apply
to them, and which in fact did not belong to them. It had
been quite as much the policy of Europe to keep us aloof as it
had been ours to keep aloof from them ; perhaps more so—
with regard to the slave-trade, for instance. They had been
for the last five years closely negotiating with all Europe, and
at the same time with us. When they had concluded their
European treaties, they invited our accession to them ; when
they laid their papers before Parliament, we obtained sight of
them. But while they were negotiating, not a lisp of anything
that passed had ever been communicated to us. In all this we
had acquiesced, because it fell in with our own policy. Had it
been otherwise, we should have intimated freely our expecta-
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tion that the proceedings of the aUies relating to the slave-
trade should be communicated to us while they were in
deliberation, and not after they have been closed. We were
yet to hear from them what had passed relating to the slave-
trade at Verona.
To all this Mr. Canning had little to reply. But he said my
observations had all imported that the basis of negotiation was
to be a change of principle on the part of Great Britain. But
it could hardly be expected that a great nation should change
its principles. Negotiation must be founded upon compromise,
and concession must be the price of concession. He had under-
stood my ultimate intention to be, to bring the United States
and Great Britain into a more intimate connection of policy
than they had been heretofore, but I had not entered upon
particulars. Perhaps something might depend upon them.
I said that my own ideas heretofore had been confined to the
general view. Mr. Rush's instructions would be rather to con-
sult than to propose — to ask whether the British Government
think, as we do, that this is a suitable time for negotiating again
upon topics concerning which we had not heretofore been able
to agree. Our proposals may depend upon the manner in which
this overture will be received. If Great Britain has undergone
no change of opinions with regard to maritime and neutral law,
her Minister has only to say that he thinks no profitable result
would come from a negotiation concerning them at this time.
My belief was, that upon all the maritime questions except
impressment Great Britain would now maintain our principles.
She had lately done so in issuing reprisals against the blockade
of Morales.
He said Great Britain had never maintained a different prin-
ciple ; all her measures departing from it in the late war having
been expressly founded upon retaliation.
I said, very well. The question was whether she would now
stipulate the principle that she avows. I foresaw nothing in
which she would want concession, unless upon impressment;
and as to that I had but a word to say. So long as Britain
should remain neutral, there was no occasion for any agreement
upon the subject. But it weighed inexpressibly upon my mind;
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154 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
it would be included among the subjects for negotiation to be
proposed by Mr. Rush. I could only say that if Great Britain
still adhered to her former views concerning it, and insisted
upon continuing the practice of taking men, if she would not
abandon the practice of beginning by the exercise of force, my
wish was that Mr. G. Canning would say so, and decline treat-
ing about it. Then if Britain should engage in war she might
avoid the conflict by instructions to her naval officers. My
hope would rely upon that. For if impressment of our men
was to continue, my belief was that we should meet it by war
as long as this country could be kept afloat above the sea.
He said they disclaimed the right of taking any other than
British subjects. "But," said I, "you actually take others, and,
when the late war broke out, turned over thousands of im-
pressed Americans to Dartmoor prison, after offering them the
alternative of fighting against their own country.'*
He said I was growing warm. I replied, if I could but pre-
vail upon one British Minister to put himself and his country
for a moment in our place on this question, I should be sure of
success. However, if the British Government should decline
treating of this concern, it would only be for them to say so.
There were materials enough for the negotiation without
resorting to this.
With regard to South America and the islands of Cuba and
Porto Rico, I said it appeared, from the published diplomatic
papers and from Mr. G. Canning's speeches in Parliament, that
France, at least, was to make no conquests in this hemisphere. .
He said he believed the expressions were, " the late Spanish
Colonies."
I said that, taking all the documents together, they included
also Cuba and Porto Rico.
He spoke to me of the speech to the President lately made
by Mr. Salazar, and now published. I told him the manner in
which the speech was made, and observed that Salazar had done
justice to the disinterested policy of the United States in the
recognition of South American independence.
Canning said he had observed it, but asked about the deputies
from St. Salvador, of Guatemala. I said I had heard nothing of
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them, except what was in the newspapers ; which was true, but
which Canning scarcely seemed to credit. They are at Phila-
delphia— o.ne of them said to be sick. Since the republican
revolution in Mexico, and the prospects of a federative Gov-
ernment there, one of those deputies has been dispatched to
Mexico, and I have supposed they would suspend their pro-
posals for union with this country till they could consult for a
union under the federal system with Mexico.
I have given the substance of this conversation with Mr.
Canning, deeming it important.
23d. Mr. Cutts came, and introduced to me Dr. Shaw, of
Albany, formerly a member of Congress from Vermont, and
father of Henry Shaw, some time member of Congress from
Berkshire. Massachusetts. Dr. Shaw is a great canvasser with
the Legislature of New York, at Albany, for the next Presi-
dential election, and I suppose is now here upon that affair.
He told me the Governor of New York had it in contempla-
tion to recommend to the Legislature to pass a law authorizing
the clioice of electors for President and Vice-President to be
made by the people by general ticket. He said when the
Legislature should assemble next January it would be known
in a week who the majority will be for. Then the majority will
be for retaining the choice in their own hands, and the minority
for going to the people. But it would save the necessity of
an extra session of the Legislature, and the election might be
held at the same time with that of members for the then en-
suing Legislature, and of members for the next Cohgress.
Almost all the elective offices in New York have been given
by the new Constitution to the people, and the people would
have more influence over the next Presidential election than
they ever had before. I had heard something about this Dr.
Shaw, and understood him the better for it" At the office, W.
W. Seaton came to solicit again employment for Mr. Little. I
called at the President's concerning the several instructions to R.
Rush. I proposed to him to omit altogether the part of my draft
in answer to Mr. Canning for which he had prepared a substi-
tute, and, if necessary hereafter to lay the papers before Congress,
to present it as part of a report to him ; to which he assented.
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156 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
24th. Mr. Canning came, and presented Mr. Henry Unwin
Addington as Charge d'Affaires from Great Britain from the
time of his own embarking. He spoke of the average value of
the slaves again, and I told him the President had, upon con-
sultation with the members of the Administration, concluded
to leave it to be settled by the Commissioners.
He then asked me if it might be expected that in the course
of the summer I should be prepared to make to Mr. Addington
a distinct proposition as to the Northern boundary,
I said I should not We should first wish to ascertain
whether the British Government would negotiate upon this
subject or not.
He said he had understood me as admitting that if the British
Government should insist on it, we should be bound to make a
distinct proposition.
I answered I had, on the condition that Great Britain would
agree to negotiate concerning it, and not otherwise. We did
not intend to merely make a proposition, for Great Britain to
accept or reject, and then resort at once to the arbitrator. If
she would agree to negotiate, we would then make a propo-
sition. But it would be necessary then to come to some agree-
ment as to the map to be used. The Commissioners had
reported no map, and yet the report of the British Commis-
sioners referred directly to a map which had been rejected.
He said the British Commissioner had offered to send out
surveyors again to ascertain the correctness of the map, and
he thought this ought to have been done.
I said the offer was made when it was impossible it should
be accepted. It proposed a prolongation of the Commission
for years, with no prospect of a better result than before. My
own impression was that the Commissioners ought rather to
have broken up the Commission, and made their reports four or
five years sooner than they did, instead of so much later. He
was disposed to blame our Commissioner. We had a profound
impression that the conduct of their Commissioner had been
wrong. Instead of settling the disputed question, he had made
it ten times more difficult than it had ever been. He had
raised pretensions never dreamt of, and, with the identical
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map used by the negotiators of the Peace of 1782 before him,
pencil-marked by them, upon the question where the line in-
tended by them was, he had reported a book with five hundred
pages of sophistry to prove that they meant a line more than
a hundred miles distant from the place marked by themselves.
It was impossible to think of such a proceeding with coolness.
But, at all events, wherever the blame might be, so the fact was
— no map was reported ; and if we should go before the arbi-
trator, we should begin by protesting against the admission
of the map to which the British Commissioner's report refers,
unless the map of our surveyor should also be admitted.
Mr. Canning waived a further discussion of the subject, and
took leave. He is to depart to-morrow. I shall probably see
him no more. He is a proud, high-tempered Englishman, of
good but not extraordinary parts; stubborn and punctilious,
with a dis|X)sition to be overbearing, which I have often been
compelled to check in its own way. He is, of all the foreign
Ministers with whom I have had occasion to treat, the man who
has most severely tried my temper. Yet he has been long in
the diplomatic career, and treated with Governments of the
most opposite characters. He has, however, a great respect
for his word, and there is nothing false about him. This is an
excellent quality for a negotiator. Mr. Canning is a man of
forms, studious of courtesy, and tenacious of private morals.
As a diplomatic man, his great want is suppleness, and his
great virtue is sincerity. I finished the reply to his letter of
8th April last, on the slave-trade.
28th. At one o'clock there was a meeting at the President's
concerning the instructions to be given to Mr. Middleton for
the negotiation relating to the Northwest coast of America. The
question was, what he should be authorized to propose or to
agree to. The Emperor's Ukase asserts a right of territory to
the fifty-first degree of north latitude, and interdicts the approach
of foreign vessels within one hundred Italian miles of the coast.
I thought no territorial right could be admitted on this conti-
nent, as the Russians appear to have no settlement upon it,
except that in California. I read the correspondence between
Count Romanzoffand L. Harris on the subject in 1808; a note
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1 58 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
from Mr. Daschkoff to R. Smith in 1810; a dispatch from R.
Smith to me, and parts of two dispatches from me to him, giving
accounts of conferences which I had with Count Romanzoff.
The President read a letter from Mr. James Lloyd to him,
with two enclosures. After some discussion, it was concluded
that I should draft an instruction to Mr. Middleton authorizing
him first to propose an article similar to that in our Convention
with Great Britain of October, 1818, agreeing that the whole
coast should be open for the navigation of all the parties for a
definite term of years ; and as there would probably be no in-
ducement for Russia to agree to this, he should then offer to
agree to a boundary line for Russia at 55°, on condition that
the coast might be frequented for trade with the natives, as it
has been heretofore. I received and read a letter from A. Gal-
latin, at New York.
Mr. Bailey showed me a letter from G. Bates to him, saying
that VV. Cunningham had written last winter a letter to Mr.
Crawford, which he had then shown to Jonathan Russell, and
injurious to my character and that of my father. I had not
heard of or from Cunningham, I believe, these fifteen years,
and knew not whether he was living or dead. He can write
nothing true, injurious to my father's character or mine.
30th. At the office. Count de Menou came. He has received
instructions from the Viscount de Chateaubriand concerning
the fishery question upon the western coast of Newfoundland.
But there are preceding instructions to which he is referred,
and which he has not yet received. He wished, therefore, to
delay his written communication for some days. I told him
there was no occasion for hurry, if there would be no exercise
of force to disturb our fishermen during the present season.
He said his instructions from Mr. Chateaubriand were alto-
gether of a conciliatory character, and he informed him that
he had written to the Minister of Marine accordingly.
Menou spoke also again about the sale of prizes in the
ports of the United States, and asked if any measure had been
taken by this Government concerning it. I said, no ; that prizes
could not be judicially declared such, or tried within our ports,
but there was no law to prohibit the sale of prizes in them.
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He said he had examined the correspondence of Mr. Jeffer-
son, in 1793, on the subject, and the instructions to Messrs.
Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry, in 1797, which also referred to
it, and proposed shortly to make me a written communication
relating to it.
I told him I would in the mean time examine those corre-
spondences and instructions, and refer to the President for
directions.
Menou told me, too, that his dispatches from the Viscount
de Chateaubriand mentioned in terms of respect Mr. Gallatin
and his conduct, expressing regret at his departure, and the
satisfaction with which his return would be welcomed. I told
Menou that these assurances would give great pleasure to the
President.
Baron Tuyl came next, with many acknowledgments and
thanks for the paragraph published this morning as editorial in
the National Intelligencer, which, he said, was perfectly con-
formable to the wish he had mentioned to me, and which would
have an excellent conciliatory effect at St. Petersburg. I was
very much absorbed in the examination of this Northwest
Coast question, and took a cursory view of Mackenzie's Travels.
July 1st. Finished the draft of instructions to H. Middleton
upon the Northwest Coast question. My time is swallowed up
in the examination of Cook's Third Voyage, Coxe's Russian
Discoveries, Humboldt. Mackenzie, Lewis and Clarke, and the
Annual Register for 1790, for research into this question. I
find proof enough to put down the Russian argument; but
how shall we answer the Russian cannon?
3d. I began a letter of instructions to R. Rush upon the
Northwest Coast question. This subject still absorbs my time,
so that I cannot pay due attention to many others. I received
a summons about one o'clock to attend at the President's
immediately. I found all the members of the Administration
there, and also Mr. Peter Hagner, the Third Auditor. The
business on which the meeting had been assembled was already
done. It was that the President should approve a partial ad-
justment of the Vice-President's accounts, making him, as I
understood, a new allowance of about forty-six thousand dol-
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l6o MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [July,
lars. At the office Mr. John Connell came, recently returned
from France. He had a long conversation with me about
claims of our merchants upon France, and also upon Den-
mark, which they wish now to revive. Connell afterwards
dined with us, and passed the evening here till ten. Amortg
other things, he intimated to me that G. W. Erving was writing
against me in the newspapers at New York. Erving has taken
a passion to be Minister in France, in place of Mr. Gallatin,
and very erroneously ascribes to me the President's indispo-
sition to appoint him.
6th. Mr. George Hay was this morning at my house, with
some queries which he said had been put to him, and which
he wished to answer. They related to his agency before the
Commission, not yet in session, under the Slave Indemnity
Convention : whether he would be authorized to act in behalf
of individual claimants; whether they would be allowed to
employ other agents or counsel ; and whether he might accept
any compensation from individuals.
I said I presumed he might appear for each and every claim-
ant ; that each claimant would also have the power to appear
before the Commissioners in person, or by any agent whom he
might appoint. But the Commissioners themselves I supposed
would determine whom they- would hear, and in what manner
hear the claims. As to the question whether Mr. Hay could
with propriety receive compensation from individual claimants,
I did not feel myself competent to give an opinion.
Mr. Hay spoke in terms of great severity of Ritchie, the
editor of the Richmond Enquirer, and said he was the most
unprincipled fellow upon earth, whose whole efforts would be
to work himself into the side of the majority. He was now
endeavoring to buy up the newspaper lately established in
Richmond against him, the Virginia Times. The Richmond
Enquirer has been for several years the political barometer of
the State of Virginia.
7th. Cabinet meeting at the President's; all there. The sub-
ject for consideration was, whether new and enlarged instruc-
tions should be given to our naval officers in the West Indies
to protect our merchant vessels, and recapture them if they
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should be taken. The dispatch from T. Randall was read. It
was finally concluded to do nothing at present.
Mr. Crawford said if any measure was to be taken, it would
be better against Spain relapsed than against Spain regenerated.
Mr, Wirt thought that since our last treaty with Spain our
vessels could not cover French property from Spanish cap-
ture, even if France acknowledged the principle that free ships
make free goods ; because she is not bound to acknowledge it
by treaty.
8th. Swam with Antoine in the Potomac to the bridge — one
hour in the water. While we were swimming, there sprang
up a fresh breeze, which made a surf, and much increased the
difficulty of swimming, especially against it and the current.
This is one of the varieties of instruction for the school. It
sometimes occurs to me that this exercise and amusement, as
I am now indulging myself in it, is with the constant risk of
life. Perhaps that is the reason why so few persons ever learn
to swim ; and perhaps it should now teach me discretion.
The Count de Menou came to enquire where were the Quir-
pon Islands; I showed him upon Mitchell's map. We had
much conversation upon the subject of the French claim to
exclusive fishery from them to Cape Ray. He said he had
received further instructions from the Viscount de Chateaubri-
and on this affair, but there were still two previous instructions
which he had not received. He saw it was an affair of great
delicacy, and he did not see how they and we could enjoy a
concurrent right of fishery on the same coast.
I told him the whole affair was a question between France
and Great Britain, with which we had but a secondary concern.
Great Britain was bound to maintain her own jurisdiction.
And if she had conceded to us a right which she had already
granted as an exclusive possession to France, she must indem-
nify us for it. The Count spoke also upon the subject of the
maritime questions arisen from the war between France and
Spain, upon which he said he should write to me.
We examined the State papers, and found Mr. Jefferson's
answer to Genest of 24th July, 1793, and the reference to it in
Mr. Pickering's instructions to Messrs. Marshall, Pinkney, and
VOL. VI. — II
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knew that Mr. Gallatin had very explicitly said as much to the
Viscount de Chateaubriand.
17th. At the office, Baron Tuyl came, and enquired if he
might inform his Government that instructions would be for-
warded by Mr. Hughes to Mr. Middleton for negotiating on
the Northwest Coast question. I said he might. He then
manifested a desire to know as much as I was disposed to tell
him as to the purport of those instructions. I told him as
much as I thought prudent, as he observed that it was person-
ally somewhat important to him to be so far confided in here
as to know the general purport of what we intended to pro-
pose. I told him specially that we should contest the right
of Russia to ^?«y territorial establishment on this continent, and
that we should assume distinctly the principle that the American
continents are no longer subjects for any new European colonial
establishments.' We had a conversation of an hour or more,
at the close of which he said that although there would be
difficulties in the negotiation, he did not foresee that they
would be insurmountable.
23d. Mr. Gallatin is going to his estate in the western part
of Pennsylvania. He did not absolutely dislike returning to
France, but thought the time indispensably required for the
arrangement of his private affairs here would not permit him
to go without a delay which may be detrimental to the public
interest, and he does not wish that the mission to France may
be kept in abeyance to accommodate him. He spoke of the
claimants upon France, some of whom he had advised to peti-
tion Congress ; and said there was another measure which he
had not suggested to them, and which the Government could
not directly propose to them ; but which, if it comported with
the President's views, he would advise — which was, that the
claimants should make application by memorial to the Presi-
dent that he would compound with France, and take a round
sum to be distributed among them in full satisfaction. This was
the only way in which the French Government would settle it.
I said I thought the claimants must find that out themselves.
The Government could not advise them.
* The first hint of the policy so well known afterwards as the Monroe doctrine.
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1 64 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [July,
24th. I am deeply engaged in preparing instructions to R.
Rush, on maritime, belligerent, and neutral law.
28th. I called at the President's with the draft of instructions
to R. Rush, to accompany the project of a Convention to regu-
late neutral and belligerent rights in time of war. The President
had suggested a single alteration in the draft of a Convention
which I had sent him on Saturday.
Mr. Calhoun came in while I was reading to the President the
draft of the instruction, and, after I had finished, started several
doubts as to the propriety of proposing this project at all. He
was confident it would not be accepted by Great Britain ; and
I have no expectation that it will at this time. But my object
is to propose it to Russia and France, and to all the maritime
powers of Europe, as well as to Great Britain. We discussed
for some time its expediency. I appealed to the primitive policy
of this country as exemplified in the first treaty with Prussia. I
said the seed was then first sown, and had borne a single plant,
which the fury of the revolutionary tempest had since swept
away. I thought the present a moment eminently auspicious
for sowing the same seed a second time, and, although I had
no hope it would now take root in England, I had the most
cheering confidence that it would ultimately bear a harvest of
happiness to mankind and of glory to this Union.
Mr. Calhoun still suggested doubts, but no positive objec-
tions, and the President directed me to send the draft of the
articles round to the members of the Administration, and to
call a meeting of them for to-morrow at one. I was not sur-
prised at Mr. Calhoun's doubts. My plan involves notliing
less than a revolution in the laws of war — a great amelioration
in the condition of man. Is it the dream of a visionary, or is it
the great and practicable conception of a benefactor of man-
kind? I believe it the latter; and I believe this to be pre-
cisely the time for proposing it to the world. Should it even
fail, it will be honorable to have proposed it* Founded on
« This anticipation was fulfilled in 1856 by the Declaration of Paris, adopted by
all the chief powers of Europe, including Great Britain. It is a curious circumstance
that the United States, the earliest advocate of the cause, should not appear even as
an assenting party.
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justice, humanity, and benevolence, it can in no event bear bitter
fruits.
29th. The meeting at the President's was delayed about an
hour by a very heavy thunder-shower. Mr. Wirt was absent
from it from indisposition. The draft of a Convention was read
and discussed. Mr. Calhoun still intimated doubts as to the
expediency of proposing it ; but more faintly than yesterday.
Mr. Crawford made no express objection, but declared his
full conviction that Great Britain would accept no part of it
which it would be useful or desirable to us that she should
accept. He also objected to some of the details, and suggested
alterations in several of the articles, some of which the Presi-
dent approved. His chief objection was to the article which
authorizes the punishment of persons taking commissions for
privateering from foreign powers, as pirates ; though we have
it already in almost every one of our treaties. But in this
objection he was alone,
Calhoun doubted whether by proposing the whole Con-
vention at once we might not fail of obtaining what we might
perhaps obtain if presented singly — an arrangement of the im-
pressment question. But Crawford thought Great Britain would
never settle the impressment question by treaty. She would let
it die a natural death, by abstaining to issue orders to her naval
officers to impress men from our vessels.
Mr. Thompson declared himself in the most explicit manner
in favor of my whole project ; and after the meeting was over,
the President directed me to forward by express to Mr. Hughes,
at New York, the whole letter of instruction as it was, and the
whole draft of a Convention, with one alteration, suggested by
Mr. Crawford.
I had sent to Baron Tuyl requesting him to call at my
office at four o'clock, and I found him there on my return from
the President's. I told him that, besides the subject of the
Northwest Coast question, Mr. Middleton would be instructed
to communicate with the Imperial Government upon two other
very important subjects — that of constituting the slave-trade
piracy by the law of nations, and that of the regulation of
neutral and belligerent rights. I explained to him briefly, and
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1 66 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July
in general terms, the principles upon which Mr. Rush was
authorized to negotiate in England upon both these points,
and observed to him that the President proposed to present the
same principles for negotiation with Russia. I added that I
had sent for him to give him notice of this, that he might have
the opportunity of first communicating it to his Government.
He thanked me in terms of the warmest acknowledgment,
and appeared to be exceedingly gratified at the substance of
our proposals in both cases. He asked me whether he should
yet have time to prepare a dispatch to go by Mr. Hughes, and
said he should wish to have an opportunity of showing it to
me before sending it.
I told him I should send my dispatches by an express to go
early to-morrow morning for New York. If he would write
his dispatch and send it to me at any time this evening before
midnight, I would deliver it in charge of the express. I should
be grateful for the perusal of it, if he would send it to me open.
He accordingly sent me about ten this evening a dispatch
containing a succinct account of our interview, with the request
that after reading and, if necessary, correcting it, I would send
it back to him to seal up ; as I did. He sent it again about
midnight, sealed, and directed to Count Lieven, at London.
31st. Mr. Calhoun told me that upon reflection he thought
better of my project for abolishing private war upon the sea
than he had at first.
Day, The important labor of the month has been the prepa-
ration of instructions to R. Rush and to H. Middleton upon
the Northwest Coast question, and upon the project of a Con-
vention for the regulation of neutral and belligerent rights.
These are both important transactions, and the latter especially
one which will warrant the special invocation of wisdom from
above. When I think, if it possibly could succeed, what a real
and solid blessing it would be to the human race, I can scarcely
guard myself from a .spirit of enthusiasm, which it becomes me
to distrust. I feel that I could die for it with joy, and that if
my last moments could be cheered with the consciousness of
having contributed to it, I could go before the throne of
Omnipotence with a plea for mercy, and with a consciousness
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of not having lived in vain for the world of mankind. It has
been for more than thirty years my prayer to God that this
might be my lot upon earth, to render signal service to my
country and to my species. For the specific object, the end,
and the means, I have relied alike upon the goodness of God.
What they were, or would be, I knew not. For ** it is not in
man that walketh to direct his steps." I have rendered ser-
vices to my country, but not such as could satisfy my own
ambition. But this offers the specific object which I have de-
sired. And why should not the hearts of the rulers of man-
kind be turned to approve and establish it? I have opened
my soul to the hope, though with trembling.
August 1st. I called at the President's and proposed that
Mr. Middleton should be instructed to communicate to the
Russian Government a copy of the Convention offered to
Great Britain for the regulation of neutral and belligerent
rights, and to ascertain if Russia would be willing to accede
to it. The President consented. I had begun the draft of an
instruction to Mr. Middleton concerning it. I asked the Presi-
dent if he proposed to send a Minister to France in the place
of Mr. Gallatin. He had not determined, nor has Mr. Gallatin
been explicit in declining to return to France. He cannot re-
turn this year, and he is willing that an appointment should be
made to supply his place, if it is thought that the public ser-
vice so requires. The President asked me what I would advise
him to do.
I thought the appointment might be postponed perhaps until
winter, but not over that season. I observed that the Act of
Congress of 3d March, 1815, offering the abolition of discrimi-
nating duties, and all the Acts founded upon it, were so limited
that they would expire during the next session of Congress.
A revision of the whole system would be necessary, and I
would suggest to him the expediency of considering what
notice it will be proper for him to take of it in the message at
the commencement of the next session.
He said that he had already, in former messages, recom-
mjended perseverance in the system, and had seen no reason
for changing his opinion.
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l68 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [August,
I said that before the opening of the session we must have
some answer from England respecting the proposed negotia-
tions, and perhaps they might render it proper that he should
also mention them in the message, particularly the project for
regulating the principles of belligerent and neutral rights in
time of war. He said he would consider of this.
I mentioned to him that I had heard the Secretary of the
Navy had finally consented to accept the vacant seat on the
bench of the Supreme Court ; which, he said, was true ; but
he would remain some time longer in the Navy Department ;
and, he added, he had not yet thought of whom he should
nominate for Mr. Thompson's successor.
The public newspapers say it has been offered to Mr. South-
ard, the Senator from New Jersey.
2d. The President was suddenly seized this morning with
cramps or convulsions, of such extreme violence that he was
at one time believed to be dying, and he lay upwards of two
hours in a state of insensibility. I did not hear of it till the fit
was over. I called at his house, and saw there Dr. Washington
and Mr. Hay. The Doctor said the President was disposed to
sleep, and it would be best that no person should see him. Mr.
Hay said Dr. Sim had pronounced the danger to be past, and
.did not apprehend a renewal of the attack. But, Hay added, he
thought it would be some time before it would be prudent to
lay before him business of any kind. Before returning home
to dinner, I sent to enquire how he was, and the answer to the
messenger was, " much better.**
3d. I finished this day the draft of a letter of instruction to
H. Middleton, to go with a copy of the project of a Conven-
tion for the regulation of belligerent and neutral rights.
6th. Yesterday was fourteen years since I embarked from
Charlestown for Russia, and this day, six years have passed
since I landed at New York on my return from Europe. They
were both important days in my life — each the commencement
of a career of high responsibility and momentous trust. The
first was signalized by important events, and in its progress
and termination was prosperous beyond all that I should have
dared to ask. The second is yet unfinished. It has been, and
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IS, checkered, as all the scenes of human life must be, with
good and evil, but, in the main, eminently cheering. Let my
heart be grateful for the past, and prepared with resignation
and resource for the future !
8th. At the office, the Baron de Tuyl came with a news-
paper containing the account of the dinner given to Captain
Hull, at Boston, upon his appointment to go and take the place
of Stewart as commander of the squadron in the Pacific. He
was alarmed at the toasts, which smacked strongly of resist-
ance to the Russian Imperial Ukase, and was afraid that in-
structions might be given to Hull which might lead to actual
collisions with the Russian naval force in that sea. He ex-
pressed himself in the most conciliatory manner, and with an
earnest hope that, as the subject was in amicable negotiation
with the fairest hope of a satisfactory arrangement, nothing
might occur to increase the difficulties of the case.
I told him I would report his observations, and had no doubt
the President would direct that instructions should be given to
Captain Hull to avoid all premature collisions. This would be
done in full confidence of the Emperor's sincere disposition to
arrange the affair amicably ; and I should candidly assure him
that apart from this consideration, and if the case had been left
on the footing of Mr. Poletica's last letter to me on this sub-
ject, Captain Hull's instructions undoubtedly would have been
to protect the citizens of the United States in the prosecution
of their lawful commerce.
The Baron asked me also to explain to him the meaning of
a paragraph in the circular from the Secretary of the Treasury
to the Collectors of the customs on the admission of foreign
prizes into our ports.
I gave him the desired explanation. I called at the Presi-
dent's. He is convalescent. I left several papers with him,
and told him of my conversation this morning with Baron
Tuyl.
9th. Swam in the Potomac to the bridge against the tide,
and returned with it. One hour and fifty minutes in the water,
Antoine being still at hand with the canoe. I was about an
hour and a half in going, and not more than twenty minutes in
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170 MEMOI/^S OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [Auswst,
returning. At the President's. He received me in his bed-
chaml?er, which he was advised not to leave this day. He
recommended to me to .strike out from the instruction to Mr.
Middleton upon the neutral and belligerent right project, all the
reference to the Holy Alliance, because, that treaty being con-
sidered in this country as a mere hypocritical fraud, any refer-
ence to it whatever would have a turn given to it of odious
misconstruction here against myself
I said my reference to the Holy Alliance was merely an
" argumentum ad hominejnJ' It was a call upon the Emperor
of Russia for an act unequivocally corresponding with the
sentiment that he had proclaimed, a direct appeal to his con-
science to support by deeds his professions ; and I had been so
far from expressing approbation of his acts, or those of the
Holy Alliance, that I had distinctly alluded to them as liable to
censure, and warned him of the danger to him that the judg-
ment of posterity would contrast them with his declaration in
the treaty.
The President said he had remarked this guard, but still
thought it would be best to omit the reference to the Holy
Alliance altogether.
I accordingly struck it out, and thereby gave up what I
considered the mainspring of the argument to the Emperor.
I relied upon its operation incomparably more than upon any-
thing else. The President is often afraid of the skittishness of
mere popular prejudices, and I am always disposed to brave
them. I have much more confidence in the calm and deliberate
judgment of the people than he has. I have no doubt that the
newspaper scavengers and scape-gibbets, whose republicanism
runs in filthy streams from the press, would have attempted
to exhibit this reference to the Holy Alliance in a false and
odious point of view, but I would have trusted to the good
sense of the people to see through their sophistry and their
motives. They would have seen in it what was intended : a
powerful engine of persuasion applied to the heart of him
whom it was all-important to persuade; a bold and direct
address to his intimate conscience, and a warning voice to
check and control his acts bearing hard upon the liberties of
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nations. In this case, as in all others for which Mr. Monroe
as the head of his Administration is responsible, I submit my
own judgment to his. The only case in which I insisted upon
my own was in the controversy with Jonathan Russell, because
in that all the responsibility rested upon me. But I have now
less confidence of succeeding with the Emperor.
The President was also apprehensive of speaking too favor-
ably of the proposal by France to exempt private property from
capture by sea, lest it should appear to countenance her inva-
sion of Spain itself He advised an additional paragraph to
guard against that, which I accordingly wrote.
I ith. Swam with Antoine to and from the bridge — one hour
and five minutes only in the water. The tide was strong, with
a brisk southwest wind, to stem both of which beyond the
bridge I found too hard a task.
At the office I made a draft of an answer to the Count de
Menou's note of nth July. The Count himself called, and
had some conversation with me concerning the circular from
the Secretary of the Treasury to the Collectors of the customs,
with which he was in the main highly gratified. But he asked
some questions respecting the paragraph which the Baron de
Tuyl had found unintelligible. It seems to make it a question
whether in the present war France recognizes the principle
that free ships make free goods. He said this had been dis-
tinctly declared in his note to me, and indeed that she did
more — she authorized no capture even of Spanish merchant
vessels.
I said I supposed the circular had spoken contingently, be-
cause in the French declaration there was a reservation of a
right of resorting to reprisals if Spain should not reciprocate
the exemption of merchant vessels from capture. He said the
reservation was not upon anything which Spain should do, but
upon what neutrals might tolerate.
I said it seemed to make no difference, since France was to
be herself the judge of what would amount to such toleration.
But I added that if the case suggested in the circular should
occur immediately, we should give France the benefit of the
regulation ; which, he said, was all he desired.
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172 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August.
He promised to write me concerning it to-morrow.
I told him of the proposition we had determined to make to
Great Britain and Russia for establishing this peace to private
property on the ocean as a principle of the law of nations for
the future. I told him I should write concerning it to Mr.
Sheldon, and observed that he might mention it to his Govern-
ment if he thought proper. He spoke also of his note con-
cerning Mr. Gallatin, and a negotiation for claims, which I told
him I should answer in a day or two.
I received a note from Mr. Addington, mentioning that Mr.
Canning had sailed from New York on the 9th, and asking an
interview, which I appointed for to-morrow at two o'clock.
1 2th. I called at the President's, and found him much re-
covered. Read to him the draft of an answer to the Count de
Menou's note of nth July, and of an instruction to A. H.
Everett on the Dutch discriminating duties, of which he ap-
proved. I mentioned to him the remarks of the Baron de
Tuyl and the Count de Menou upon one paragraph in the
circular from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Collectors.
The President said he himself had noticed that paragraph,
and that perhaps an explanatory letter might go to the Col-
lectors. That paragraph was indeed totally unnecessary to the
circular; it is introduced in the most awkward manner, and
when I enquire why it was inserted, the motive which suggests
itself is such as I am unwilling to credit. Yet it is altogether
in the character of the man.
14th. At the office. Baron de Tuyl came, and read to me
part of a dispatch from Count Lieven of 19th June. The British
Government refused to prohibit the sale of prizes in British
ports. I was at the President's. Read to him a draft of an
instruction to D. Sheldon, which he approved. Appointed a
Cabinet meeting for to-morrow at one.
15th. Cabinet meeting at the President's at one. Mr. Wirt
absent from indisposition. The subject first mentioned by the
President for consideration was a letter to me from Andreas
Luriottis at London, styling himself Envoy of the Provisional
Government of the Greeks, a copy of which was sent me some
months since by R. Rush. This letter, recommending the
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cause of the Greeks, solicited of the United States recognition,
alliance, and assistance. It was proper to give a distinct
answer to this letter, and I had asked the President's directions
what the answer should be.
The President now proposed the question. Mr. Gallatin had
proposed in one of his last dispatches, as if he was serious, that
we should assist the Greeks with our naval force in the Medi-
terranean— one frigate, one corvette, and one schooner. Mr.
Crawford and Mr. Calhoun inclined to countenance this pro-
ject. Crawford asked, hesitatingly, whether we were at peace
with Turkey, and seemed only to wait for opposition to main-
tain that we were not. Calhoun descanted upon his great
enthusiasm for the cause of the Greeks ; he was for taking no
heed of Turkey whatever. In this, as in many other cases,
these gentlemen have two sources of eloquence at these Cabinet
meetings — one with reference to sentiment, and the other to
action. Their enthusiasm for the Greeks is all sentiment, and
the standard of this is the prevailing popular feeling. As for
action, they are seldom agreed; and after two hours of dis-
cussion this day the subject was dismissed, leaving it precisely
where it was — nothing determined, and nothing practicable
proposed by either of them. Seeing their drift, I did not think
it necessary to discuss their doubts whether we were at peace
with Turkey, their contempt for the Sublime Porte, or their
enthusiasm for the cause of the Greeks. I have not much
esteem for the enthusiasm which evaporates in words; and I
told the President I thought not quite so lightly of a war with
Turkey. I said I would prepare an answer to Mr. Luriottis,
and an instruction to Mr. Rush for his consideration. He had
proposed the question whether a secret Agent should be sent
to Greece. Calhoun mentioned Edward Everett, and I named
Lyman;' but we cannot send a secret Agent. Our Agents
never will be secret.
The President informed us that Mr. Thompson, the Secre-
tary of the Navy, had consented to accept the vacant seat upon
the bench of the Supreme Court; and that he had thought
of Mr. Southard, the Senator from New Jersey, for the Navy
« Probably, Theodore Lyman, of Boston.
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174 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUmCY ADAMS. [August.
Department. But he had not written to Mr. Southard, nor
given him any notice of his intention ; nor was he under any
engagement or promise whatever to appoint him. He had
thought of him as a man of abilities, a native of the State of
New Jersey, one of the original thirteen, and from which there
had never been a member of the Administration. He now men-
tioned it because three of us stood in peculiar relations with
reference to the succession to the place now occupied by him.
He considered it honorable to us all that large portions of the
country were disposed to support each of us for that station.
His own confidence in each of us was entire and unimpaired.
He made these remarks not with the expectation that either
of us would reply to them, but in reference to the appoint-
^ ment of a Secretary of the Navy, to say that if either of us had
any observations to make he would give them full consideration.
As to the mission to France, he had wished that Mr. Gallatin
should return thither, but Mr. Gallatin himself had urged him
to make another appointment, and he had thought of Mr. James
Brown, of Louisiana. He was of opinion that in the present
critical state of Europe this appointment should be made with-
out delay.
This address of the President was followed by a pause of
silence, which I terminated by asking Mr. Thompson when he
proposed to quit the Department and enter upon his judicial
office. He intimated, not very soon, and that he thought it
would not be necessary for him to hold the next coming Circuit
Courts in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
The President thought it would be best that he should, and
said the Government would be blamed if those terms should
pass without a Circuit Judge to hold them.
Mr. Thompson made some question as to the law, and asked
me if I had examined the two Acts of Congress of 1802 and
1808. By the first, the President has the power of allotting
a Judge to hold the Circuit. The second provides that the
Judge residing in the Circuit shall hold the Circuit Court.
Mr. Thompson had some doubts whether his legal residence
was in the Second District, as he has dwelt for the last four
years here.
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The President said he considered himself as residing in Vir-
ginia, though he has lived here these twelve years. Mr. Cal-
houn also considered himself as residing in South Carolina.
The President finally asked Mr. Thompson to remain with
him a few minutes alone.
It is remarkable that several newspapers have some days
since announced the appointment of Mr. Southard to the Navy
Department as already made, and some of them have fixed
upon the last of this month as the time when he is to enter
upon the duties of the office. He is said to be a devoted par-
tisan of Mr. Calhoun; which I suppose was the occasion of
the President's remarks on announcing his intention to appoint
him.
1 6th. I called at the President's, and read to him my drafts
of an answer to Luriottis, the Greek Agent, and of an instruc-
tion concerning it to R. Rush, both which he approved. Mr.
Jackson, the British Commissioner under the Slave Indemnity
Convention, has at length arrived at New York.
19th. I received a letter from Judge Johnson, of South
Carolina, enclosing a printed copy of his decision upon a
habeas corpus in the case of a British subject named Elkison,
a colored man imprisoned under an Act of South Carolina,
which he declares to be unconstitutional. Mr. Canning remon-
strated against this Act last winter, and we were assured it
should sleep. I sent Judge Johnson's letter to the President.
QuiNCY, 25th. — Just at one we arrived at my father's house,
and I was deeply affected at meeting him. Within the two
last years since I had seen him, his eyesight has grown dim,
and his limbs stiff and feeble. He is bowed with age, and
scarcely can walk across a room without assistance.
Boston, September '^A, — I called with Mr. Cruft upon Stewart,
the painter, and engaged him to go out to Quincy and there
paint a portrait of my father. More than twenty years have
passed since he painted the former portrait, and time has
wrought so much of change on his countenance that I wish
to possess a likeness of him as he now is. Stewart started
some objections of trivial difficulties — the want of an easel, of
a room properly adapted to the light; but finally promised
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176 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [September.
that he would go, and take with him his best brush, to paint a
picture of affection, and of curiosity for future times.
4th. Dined at General H. A. S. Dearborn's, at Brinley Place,
Roxbury. There was a company of about thirty men, among
whom Colonel Hayne, the Senator, and Mr. Archer — Crownin-
shield, Silsbee, and Sprague, of Salem. There was at table a
conversation, chiefly between Colonel Hayne and George Blake,
upon a decision of Judge Johnson's, of the United States Su-
preme Court, pronouncing an Act of the Legislature of South
Carolina unconstitutional, in which Hayne discovered so much
excitement and temper that it became painful, and necessary to
change the topic. It was the Act prohibiting free persons of
color from coming or being brought into the State as sailors,
upon penalties, among which are their being sold as slaves.
9th. This morning a pamphlet was published purporting to
be by Ephraim May Cunningham, son of the late William Cun-
ningham, of Fitchburg. It is a correspondence between my
father and William Cunningham, partly written in 1804 and
partly in 1808-9 and 1810. It contains a number of letters
written at those respective times by my father, with his charac-
teristic frankness, and under the excitement of different feelings
at the different periods. The malignity of the publication con-
sists in its being now made for the purpose of injuring me, by
exciting personal enmities against me among leading men of
both parties and their families and friends. There is an intro-
duction of venomous bitterness, well written, and attributed to
the pen of Jonathan Russell,' who, together with Mr. Crawford,
has the credit of contributing to bring it forth. How far this is
true I have not evidence sufficient clearly to ascertain. On or
about the 8th of May last William Cunningham shot himself
In June, Mr. Bailey received a letter from Dr. Bates, intimating
that a correspondence was to be published which was to blast
my reputation and my father's. In August, Dr. Waterhouse
wrote me that Governor Eustis was making efforts, well meant,
« This is believed not to be correct. The preface has been attributed to a citizen
of Charlestown, who, like the son who inherited and furnished the papers, was,
soon after the election of General Jackson, provided with place in the Boston
Custom-House.
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no doubt, but, if so, very injudicious, to suppress the publica-
tion. The newspapers of Mr. Crawford's scape-gibbets began
to let out the secret of the mine that was to blow me up. And
since I have been here, the publication has been letting out
whiffs of smoke from day to day till the great explosion of
this morning. And, blessed be God ! here I am, sound wind
and limb, neither better nor worse for the Cunningham corre-
spondence.
QuiNCY, nth. — My father had been sitting to Stewart, the
painter, and he told me that he would make a picture of it
that should be admired as long as the materials would hold
together.
Washington, November 7th. — Cabinet meeting at the Presi-
dent's from half-past one till four. Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of
War, and Mr. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, present. The
subject for consideration was. the confidential proposals of the
British Secretary of State, George Canning, to R. Rush, and
the correspondence between them relating to the projects of
the Holy Alliance upon South America. There was much
conversation, without coming to any definite point. The object
of Canning appears to have been to obtain some public pledge
from the Government of the United States, ostensibly against
the forcible interference of the Holy Alliance between Spain
and South America ; but really or especially against the acqui-
sition to the United States themselves of any part of the
Spanish-American possessions.'
Mr. Calhoun inclined to giving a discretionary power to Mr.
Rush to join in a declaration against the interference of the
Holy Allies, if necessary, even if it should pledge us not to
take Cuba or the province of Texas; because the power of
Great Britain being greater than ours to seise upon them, we
should get the advantage of obtaining from her the same
declaration we should make ourselves.
I thought the cases not parallel. We have no intention of
« Mr. Rush's dispatch of the 23d of August, relating to this subject, was intro-
duced into the volume entitled by him "The Court of London from 1819 to 1825,"
together with many details of an interesting nature. This volume was republished
by his son in London in 1873.
VOL. VI. — 12
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178 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
seizing either Texas or Cuba. But the inhabitants of either or
both may exercise their primitive rights, and solicit a union
with us. They will certainly do no such thing to Great Britain.
By joining with her, therefore, in her proposed declaration, we
give her a substantial and perhaps inconvenient pledge against
7^ ourselves, and really obtain nothing in return. ^ Without enter-
ing now into the enquiry of the expediency of our annexing
Texas or Cuba to our Union, we should at least keep ourselves
free to act as emergencies may arise, and not tie ourselves down
to any principle which might immediately afterwards be brought
to bear against ourselves.
Mr. Southard inclined much to the same opinion.
The President was averse to any course which should have
> the appearance of taking a position subordinate to that of Great
Britain, and suggested the idea of sending a special Minister to
protest against the interposition of the Holy Alliance.
I observed that it was a question for separate consideration,
whether we ought in any event, if invited, to attend at a Con-
gress of the allies on this subject.
Mr. Calhoun thought we ought in no case to attend.
The President, referring to instructions given before the Con-
gress at Aix-la-Chapelle declaring that we would, if invited,
attend no meeting relative to South America of which less
than its entire independence should be the object, intimated
that a similar limitation might be assumed now.
I remarked that we had then not recognized the South
American independence ourselves. We would have been will-
* ing to recognize it in concert with the European allies, and
therefore would have readily attended, if invited, a meeting of
which that should have been the object. We could not now
have the same motive. We have recognized them. We are
very sure there will be now no meeting of the allies with that
object. There would, therefore, be no use or propriety in re-
sorting to the same limitation. Our refusal to attend should
. be less explicit and unqualified.
To this the President readily assented.
I remarked that the communications recently received from
' the Russian Minister, Baron Tuyl, afforded, as I thought, a
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very suitable and convenient opportunity for us to take our
stand against the Holy Alliance, and at the same time to de-
cline the overture of Great Britain. It would be more candid,
as well as more dignified, to avow our principles explicitly to
Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake
of the British man-of-war.
This idea was acquiesced in on all sides, and my draft for
an answer to Baron Tuyl's note announcing the Emperor's de-
termination to refuse receiving any Minister from the South
American Governments was read.
Mr. Calhoun objected to two words as sarcastic — the word
^'Christian'' annexed to independent nations, and the words 'of
peace'' added to the word Minister.
I told him, laughing, that all the point of my note was in
those two words, as my object was to put the Emperor in the
wrong in the face of the world as much as possible. -^
The President proposed one or two other alterations, but
after examination did not insist upon them. But it was thought
the best method of making the profession of our principles
would be in answering that part of Baron Tuyl's communica-
tion to me which was verbal — the intimation of the Emperor's
hope that we should continue to observe neutrality in the con-
test between Spain and South America. It was proposed that
I should in my written answer to the Baron's written note in-
troduce a commentary upon the verbal part of his conferences.
The discussion continued till four o'clock, when Mr. Calhoun
had an engagement, and the meeting broke up without coming
to any conclusion.
I remained with the President, and observed to him that the
answer to be given to Baron Tuyl, the instructions to Mr. Rush
relative to the proposals of Mr. Canning, those to Mr. Mid-
dleton at St. Petersburg, and those to the Minister who must
be sent to France, must all be parts of a combined system of
policy and adapted to each other; in which he fully concurred.
I added that as Baron Tuyl had made one part of his com-
munications written and another verbal, if I should answer the
whole in one written note it might place him personally in an
awkward predicament. My official intercourse with the Baron
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l8o MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [November,
had always been of the friendliest character, and I was desirous
of observing with him all the forms of courtesy and kindness.
The President then proposed that I should confine my written
answer to the purport of the Baron's written note, and see the
Baron again upon the verbal part of his communication. This
course I shall accordingly take. I told the President I would
see the Baron before sending him my written answer. I would
then say that, having informed the President of what had passed
between us at our recent conferences, he had approved the
verbal answer that I had given to the Baron, and had directed
me to add that, receiving in friendly part the expression of the
Emperor's wish that the United States may continue to observe
the neutrality announced on their recognition of the South
American Governments, he wished the Baron to state to his
Government, in return, the desire of that of the United States
that the Emperor, on his part, should continue to observe the
same neutrality. The Baron would make this the subject of a
dispatch to his Government, which I presume he would, accord-
ing to his custom, show me before sending it off; and I could
commit the substance of all these conferences to writing in the
form of a report to the President. Of all this he approved.
The discussion at the Cabinet meeting took a wide range. It
was observed that Mr. Canning had not disclosed to Mr. Rush
the special facts upon which he expected there would be a
Congress to settle the affairs of South America, and Mr. Cal-
houn expressed some surprise that Mr. Rush did not appear
to have made of him any enquiries on that point.
I observed that I was rather glad of the objection of the
British Government to the preliminary recognition, as I should
be sorry that we should be committed upon Canning's propo-
sitions, even so far as we might have been, by Mr. Rush on his
own responsibility.
Calhoun wondered what could be the objection of Great
Britain to the recognition.
I said there were two reasons: one, the aversion to fly
directly in the face of the Holy Alliance; and, secondly, the
engagements of her treaties with Spain, particularly that of
Sth July, 1 8 14.
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Calhoun and Southard thought that Great Britain would
in no event take a stand against the Holy Alliance on South
American affairs unless sure of our co-operation. She could
not be belligerent leaving us neutral, because it must throw the
whole commerce of the adverse party into our hands. It was
the opinion of us all that a Minister must immediately be sent
to France.
The President read a copy of his letter to A. Gallatin urging
him, 15th October, to return, and of Gallatin's answer, saying
that he cannot go this winter, but promising to be here about
the middle of this month. I left with the President several
papers this day received, among which, one from Mr. Con-
stancio, the ex-Consul and Charge d'Affaires from Portugal,
soliciting the pardon of a man named Cartacho, just convicted
of piracy at Richmond. So we have now two persons claiming
to act as Charge d'Affaires from Portugal. On returning to
the office, I sent to Baron Tuyl requesting him to call at my
office to morrow at one.
8th. I found Baron de Tuyl waiting for me at the office. I
told him that I had submitted to the President the note from
him declaring the Emperor's determination not to receive any
Minister or Agent from any of the South American States,
to which I should shortly send him an answer. I had also
reported to the President the substance of our verbal confer-
ences ; of what had been said by him, and of my answers ;
that the President had directed me to say that he approved of
my answers as far as they had gone, and to add that he received
the observations of the Russian Government relating to the
neutrality of the United States in the contest between Spain
and the independent States of South America amicably, and
in return for them wished him to express to his Court the
hope of the Government of the United States that Russia
would on her part also continue to observe the same neu-
trality. After some conversation, the Baron desired me to re-
peat what I had said, that he might perfectly understand me. I
repeated, accordingly, what I had said. He observed that he
should immediately prepare a dispatch to his Government
relating the purport of this conversation, and would send it
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1 82 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. [November,
to my house to-morrow, to be perfectly sure of its accuracy ;
requesting me to make any observations upon it that I should
think advisable. I promised that I would ; and this was ex-
actly the course which I told the President I expected the affair
would take.
I had also received a note from the President just before I
met the Baron, in which he had suggested the idea of enquiring
of the Baron what was the import of the term ** political prin-
ciples" in his note. I accordingly asked him. He said they
were used in the instructions of the Government to him, and
he understood them to have reference to the right of supremacy
of Spain over her Colonies. I had so understood them myself,
and had not entertained a moment's doubt as to their meaning.
The Baron observed I had told him my answer to his note
would probably not be of a nature to require a reply, and then
he reminded me of my engagement to refer it for further ad-
visement, whether, and how, the correspondence should be
published. I said I remembered it, and still believed my
answer to his note would require no reply; but of that he
would himself judge. I told him the substance of what my
answer would be: an acknowledgment of the receipt of his
note ; a statement that we had received and sent Ministers
and Agents in our intercourse with the independent South
American states, and should continue to do the same ; regret-
ting that the Emperor's political principles had not yet led his
Government to the same conclusion. I saw by the Baron's
countenance that he was not a little affected at this statement.
He took leave of me, however, in perfect good humor.
9th. I received from Baron Tuyl the draft of his dispatch,
and, after perusal, returned it to him with a confidential note
and two observations.
loth. Mr. Addington called, and I read to him the dispatches
from R. Rush, containing his correspondence with G. Canning
on the subject of South America and the Holy Allies. He
told me he had received a letter from New York mentioning
that the four British seamen, for the discharge of whom he
had applied, had been released, and he thanked me for the
promptitude with which the subject had been attended to.
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1823] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 183
Mr. William Taylor, Consul at Vera Cruz, and lately returned
from Mexico, called. He gave me an account of affairs in that
country, and particularly of the French Agent who went there
last winter, and who, he says, has been intriguing there to pre-
vail upon them to set up a Prince of the House of Bourbon.
When Taylor left Mexico, this man charged him with two
packets of letters, which he said related solely to affairs of
commerce; but which Taylor had no doubt related to his
political agency. He (Taylor) indirectly let the Government
know that he was charged with these packets — one addressed
to the Consul-General here, Petry, and the other to the French
Consul at Philadelphia. When Taylor reached Vera Cruz,
the Director commanding there sent to demand the delivery
to him of these packets, giving him notice that if he should
refuse to deliver them he would not be permitted to ship his
trunk. He therefore did deliver them up. I doubt whether
he ought to have taken them at all. I received a note from
Baron Tuyl enclosing copies of his two dispatches; a note
also from the President, proposing a modification of my answer
to the Baron's note. I think also of proposing another modi-
fication. ^_
nth. At the office, Mr. Deabbate. the Sardinian Consul,
came for an answer to his application for the abolition of dis-
criminating duties upon Sardinian vessels and merchandise
imported in them into the ports of the United States. This
person has been now about four years endeavoring to obtain
this, and has used various means of the winding-stair class
to accomplish his end ; first, by an artful and deceptive corre-
spondence, at the close of which I explicitly stated to him, in
October last year, that to entitle Sardinian vessels, with their
cargoes, to be put upon the footing of our own, under a procla-
mation of the President, by virtue of the Act of Congress of
3d March. 18 15, it would be necessary for him to obtain an
authentic declaration from the Sardinian Government that
there are no discriminating duties levied in the Sardinian
dominions to the disadvantage of vessels of the United States.
Now, after the lapse of more than a year, he delivers me a
pompous declaration authenticated by the Marquis de la Tour,
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1 84 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
the Sardinian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and claims a procla-
mation from the President, conformably to the notice I had
given. I was not a little surprised, in reading this declaration,
to find that it did «ot assert the non-existence of discrimi-
nating duties upon Sardinian shipping in the Sardinian ports ;
but only that there was no difference of duties upon merchan-
dise imported, whether in Sardinian or American vessels. I
told Mr. Deabbate that this was not sufficient to justify the
issuing of the proclamation, and in the course of the discus-
sion that ensued he admitted that there was a discriminating
tonnage duty of twenty sols levied upon foreign vessels in
Sardinia, which he said was no inequality, because the foreign
vessels made longer voyages, and the Sardinians paid the
tonnage three or four times to their once.
This way of doing business I suppose the Italians call
" finesse." I told Mr. Deabbate that the Act of Congress of
3d March, 1815, and all its dependencies, would expire at the
end of this year, and that Congress must act upon it at an early
period of their approaching session. The Act might be modi-
fied, but it would be of no use to abolish the discriminating
duties upon Sardinian vessels merely for the term of fifty days
that the law was yet to last. Nor could it in any event be
done while any discriminating tonnage duty, be it ever so
small, should be levied upon American vessels in Sardinia.
He said he believed then he might as well return to Philadel-
phia to-morrow.
I took my budget of papers to the President's, and was with
him nearly two hours. I first reported to him my last con-
ference with the Russian Minister, Baron Tuyl, and read to
him the copies of the Baron's two dispatches to his Govern-
ment, which he furnished me according to my request. I then
suggested the new modification of the answer to the Baron's
note which I proposed ; leaving out entirely the expression of
regret — which he approved. I laid before him a number of
lubjects, the decision upon all which
ent. Among the rest were all the
ications for appointments as Secre-
outh American mission. He con-
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 185
eluded to see Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Wirt before he fixed upon
his choice.
13th. Morning occupied in making a draft of minutes for the
message of the President upon subjects under the direction of
the Department of State. I took to the President's my draft of
minutes and copies of the instructions to R. Rush dispatched
last summer. I read and left my draft with him. I find him
yet altogether unsettled in his own mind as to the answer to be
given to Mr. Canning's proposals, and alarmed, far beyond any-
thing that I could have conceived possible, with the fear that
the Holy Alliance are about to restore immediately all South
America to Spain. Calhoun stimulates the panic, and the news
that Cadiz has surrendered to the French has so affected the
President that he appeared entirely to despair of the cause of
South America. He will recover from this in a few days ; but
I never saw more indecision in him. We discussed the pro-
posals of Canning, and I told him if he would decide either to
accept or decline them, I would draft a dispatch conformable
to either decision for his consideration. He said he would talk
further about it to-morrow.
15th. I received a note from Mr. D. Brent, saying that the
President wished to see me at the office at noon. I went, and
found him there. He asked for the correspondence relating to
the intercourse with the British American Colonies, with a view
to the particular notice which he intends to take of it in the mes-
sage ; which I thought should have been only in general terms.
He also showed me two letters which he had received — one
from Mr. Jefferson, 23d October, and one from Mr. Madison
of 30th October, giving their opinions on the proposals of Mr.
Canning. The President had sent them the two dispatches
from R. Rush of 23d and 28th August, enclosing the corre-
spondence between Canning and him, and requested their
opinions on the proposals. Mr. Jefferson thinks them more
important than anything that has happened since our Revolu-
tion. He is for acceding to the proposals, with a view to
pledging Great Britain against the Holy Allies; though he
thinks the island of Cuba would be a valuable and important
acquisition to our Union. Mr. Madison's opinions are less
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1 86 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
decisively pronounced, and he thinks, as I do, that this move-
ment on the part of Great Britain is impelled more by her
interest than by a principle of general liberty.
At one I attended the Cabinet meeting at the President's.
He read a note from Mr. Crawford saying he was not well
enough to attend, but hoped to be out on Monday. Mr. Cal-
houn and Mr. Southard were there; Mr. Wirt absent at Balti-
more. The subject of Mr. Canning's proposals was resumed,
and I soon found the source of the President's despondency
with regard to South American affairs. Calhoun is perfectly
moon-struck by the surrender of Cadiz, and says the Holy
Allies, with ten thousand men, will restore all Mexico and all
South America to the Spanish dominion.
I did not deny that they might make a temporary impression
for three, four, or five years, but I no more believe that the
Holy Allies will restore the Spanish dominion upon the Amer-
ican continent than that the Chimborazo will sink beneath the
ocean. But, I added, if the South Americans were really in a
state to be so easily subdued, it would be but a more forcible
motive for us to beware of involving ourselves in their fate. I
set this down as one of Calhoun's extravaganzas. He is for
plunging into a war to prevent that which, if his opinion of it
IS correct, we are utterly unable to prevent. He is for embark-
ing our lives and fortunes in a ship which he declares the very
rats have abandoned. Calhoun reverts again to his idea of
giving discretionary power to our Minister to accede to all
Canning's proposals, if necessary, and not otherwise. After
much discussion, I said I thought we should bring the whole
answer to Mr. Canning's proposals to a test of right and wrong.
Considering the South Americans as independent nations, they
themselves, and no other nation, had the right to dispose of
their condition. We have no right to dispose of them, either
alone or in conjunction with other nations. Neither have any
other nations the right of disposing of them without their
consent. This principle will give us a clue to answer all Mr.
Canning's questions with candor and confidence. And I am
to draft a dispatch accordingly.
The President then said that he inclined to appoint Mr.
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. jgj
James Brown, of Louisiana, to go as Minister to France,
though he had hitherto given hire no intimation to that effect.
Mr. Brown's character and quah'fications were discussed. Cal-
houn said he had genius, but was timid. Southard said he
was indolent. His rheumatism, his fortune, and his showy wife
were not forgotten. The President spoke of sending an Envoy
Extraordinary, with no special destination, but with power to
act as occasion might require, with reference to these proposals
of Mr. Canning, and to any emergency concerning South
America. The ostensible motive for the appointment might
be as a colleague with R. Rush in the negotiations now com-
mitted to him alone. The measure itself was generally ap-
proved, but the selection of the person caused much rambling
conversation. Calhoun, who in all his movements of every
kind has an eye to himself, named Mason, of New Hampshire,
De Witt Clinton, Judge Thompson, Mr. Ingham, and Edward
Livingston. I mentioned Governor Woodbury and Mr. For-
syth. Mr. Southard spoke of J. Sergeant, Binney, and Hop-
kinson. The President named Mr. Baldwin. The pro and con
for them all was set forth. Federalism was the principal objec-
tion to most of them. The President also spoke of Mr. Sanford
and Judge Van Ness, of New York, and finally said he wished
Mr, Madison would go. From that moment I thought of no
other person. I observed the only question was whether it
could be proposed to him. And I urged the President seri-
ously to think of it; which he promised he would. I entreated
him, above all things, not to appoint an incompetent person.
There are objections to Mr. Madison's going, of which he him-
self and the President are not only the best but the only proper
judges. If he would go, there could be no man better suited
for the appointment.
1 6th. I received a very large mail of dispatches — among
the rest two more, 334 and 336, from R. Rush, concerning
Mr. Canning's proposal. There are two intermediate still to
be received. By the last, Mr. Canning's tone appears to be
changed, and Mr. Rush writes under feelings of disappoint-
ment, and having partly discovered the views of Great Britain.
17th. I drafted a dispatch to R. Rush in answer to all his
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1 88 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
dispatches relating to the proposals of G. Canning concerning
South America. At the office. The President there. He ap-
pears to be still perplexed with the British Colonial Trade ques-
tion, the arrangements concerning which had entirely escaped
his memory. I referred him to my dispatch to R. Rush, No.
64, of which he has a copy, but which he has not read. The
President thinks from the tenor of the dispatches received
yesterday from R. Rush that Canning had changed his pur-
pose; that he was less alarmed; that probably some induce-
ments had been presented, after the triumph of the French in
Spain, to quiet his apprehensions. My own opinion is con-
firmed that the alarm was affected; that the object was to
obtain by a sudden movement a premature commitment of
the American Government against any transfer of the island
of Cuba to France, or the acquisition of it by ourselves; and,
failing in that point, he has returned to the old standard of
British belligerent policy. I read to the President and gave
him my draft of a dispatch to R. Rush. He desired me to
write to Mr. James Brown, of Louisiana, and propose to him
the mission to France; and to Mr. Larned, of Rhode Island,
for the appointment of Secretary of Legation to Chili.
Mr. Addington called at the office, and mentioned that he
had private letters from England confirming the accounts in
the newspapers that British Consular Agents had been ap-
pointed to the various ports of the South American Govern-
ments. I told him I had received further dispatches from Mr.
Rush in relation to the negotiation with Mr. Canning concern-
ing South American affairs — that it had rested where it was,
Mr. Rush not feeling himself authorized to accede to Mr. Can-
ning's proposals without a preliminary recognition by Great
Britain of the independence of the South American States, and
the British Government not yet being prepared for that step.
I said I could not readily imagine what could withhold Great
Rrifain from the formal recognition, when her measures all
that it had been given ; and I added that, earnestly
as we were of co-operating with Great Britain, I saw
• basis for concerted operations than that.
igton said that he did not know what the motives could
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be. He thought it very probable that before my instructions
could get out to Mr. Rush, Great Britain would have acknowl-
edged some one or other of the South American Governments
as independent. Perhaps, as possessing Colonies herself, and
especially as some of her Colonies appeared to be in a very bad
and turbulent humor, she might be less ready to acknowledge
the independence of other Colonies. "Suppose, for instance,"
said he, "that the island of Cuba should take advantage of the
present state of things and declare itself independent. The
United States might have no objection to recognizing that in-
dependence, but with Great Britain, having Colonies of her own,
it might be otherwise."
I said that the question as to the independence of Cuba not
having yet arisen, I saw no reason for anticipating it for the
sake of argument. On the existing state of things the basis
for co-operation should be laid, and then, whatever events time
might bring forth, it would be easy to accommodate a concerted
movement to them. At least I supposed Great Britain must
be prepared to say that in no event should Cuba be transferred
to France.
** Oh, certainly !'* said he.
Baron Tuyl, the Russian Minister, had written me this
morning a note requesting an interview, and by appointment
now came. I therefore deferred to a future day further con-
versation with Mr. Addington. The Baron came, and read me
a dispatch from Count Nesselrode to him, and extracts from
two others, of 29th and 30th August and 2d September last. |
The dispatch was merely a statement that the Emperor Alex-
ander was just leaving St. Petersburg for a tour of three
months for the inspection of his troops. It appears to guard
very anxiously against any suspicion that he intended by it any
hostile movement. It was doubtless a circular chiefly destined
for European Courts, and sent pro forma here. The first ex-
tract was an acknowledgment of the receipt of the Baron's
first dispatches from hence ; high expressions of satisfaction
at his conduct here ; at the reception he had met with ; at the
consent of this Government to treat of the Northwest Coast
question at St. Petersburg ; intimations that Sir Charles Bagot
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igO MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
had also received powers to treat concerning, it on the part
of Great Britain, and that Mr. Poletica was authorized to enter
upon the negotiation during Count Nesselrode's absence with
the Emperor.
The second extract was an exposition of principles relating
to the affairs of Spain and Portugal, in a tone of passionate
exultation at the counter-revolution in Portugal and the im-
pending success of the French army in Spain ; an *' lo Tri-
umphe*' over the fallen cause of revolution, with sturdy prom-
ises of determination to keep it down ; disclaimers of all
intention of making conquests ; bitter complaints of being
calumniated, and one paragraph of compunctions, acknowl-
edging that an apology is yet due to mankind for the invasion
of Spain, which it is in the power only of Ferdinand to furnish,
by making his people happy.
That paragraph is a satire upon all the rest of the paper.
The Baron left the two extracts with me to be shown to the
President. He assured me that he was perfectly satisfied with
my answer to his last note, which he had received this morning;
and he spoke with great kindness and good will towards us. I
told him I could assure him, from the knowledge I had of the
President's sentiments, that they reposed great personal confi-
dence in him. He said he should always endeavor to deserve it.
1 8th. Mr. G. Hay was here with the letter from the Slave-
Indemnity Commissioners, and some questions which I was
not able to answer. He spoke also of the dispatches last
received from Mr. Rush, and their effect upon the President.
He said the President appeared to be much relieved by the
view I had taken of them yesterday. I think he is yet alarmed
more than will appear to be necessary. I took to the Presi-
dent's the two extracts of dispatches left with me by Baron
Tuyl, which I read to him. Mr. Calhoun was there, and Mr.
Southard came in shortly afterwards. Mr. Calhoun said he
was confirmed in the view he had taken of the designs of the
Holy Allies upon South America. I said I was quite con-
firmed in mine. The President appears yet to be in an extraor-
dinary degree of dejection. There must be something that
affects him besides the European news. I read to him two
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letters from Governor Cass, of the Michigan Territory : one,
with a list of legislative Council to be picked ; the other, about
Drummond's Island. He spoke to me also about General
Hull's claim, and asked me to see the Comptroller, Anderson,
concerning it. I wrote, by the President's direction, to James
Brown, Senator from Louisiana, now at Philadelphia, pro-
posing to him the mission to France ; and to Samuel Larned,
at Providence, whom he has determined to appoint Secretary
to the Legation to Chili.
19th. Dr. Thornton called on me this morning and left me
some papers, written for publication in the National Intelli-
gencer, against a Congressional caucus for the Presidential
election ; but the editors declined printing them. Strong ob-
jections against this mode of designating a candidate for the
Presidency have lately arisen ; but there is no provision of the
Constitution against it, and the friends of that candidate who
find themselves the most numerous in Congress will hold cau-
cuses so long as the people will bear them out in it by electing
him whom they recommend. Nothing will put it down but
failure of success; and, although it is in its essence caballing, I
consider it as one of the least obnoxious modes of intrigue.
It is said the intention of Mr. Crawford's friends is to precipi-
tate a caucus at the commencement of the ensuing session of
Congress, with a view to foresail the movements of the State
Legislatures, and of the people, in his favor. The organization
of his party is stronger than that of any other candidate, having
already been formed in 18 16, before the first election of Mr.
Monroe. This is the reason of the great reliance which his
friends place upon a caucus. There is now the greatest prob-
ability that his caucus will succeed; but if his Administration
should prove an unpopular one, the caucus appointment will
eventually recoil upon him.
Mr. Addington came to make further enquiries concerning
the proposals of Mr. Canning to Mr. Rush. I had an hour's
conversation with him, and further explained to him that we
could move in concert with Great Britain upon South Amer-
ican affairs only upon the basis of their acknowledged inde-
pendence. I took to the President my drafts of a letter to Mr.
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ig2 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November.
Salazar, the Colombian Minister, and of a general instruction
to H. Allen, the newly-appointed Minister to Chili. Left them
with him. He said he had read my No. 64 to Mr. Rush, and
should not vary much from my sketch upon the Colonial trade
subject.
20th. At the office I received a note from the President, pro-
posing large alterations to my draft of instructions to R. Rush
upon Canning's proposals concerning South American affairs.
Some of the alterations were unexceptionable ; others I wished
him further to consider. I called at his house, but he was out
riding. He afterwards came to the office. I stated my objec-
tions to some of his proposed alterations of my draft, and sug-
gested to him the substance of a substitute which I wished to
offer to his projected paragraph. He agreed that I should
draft a substitute, and proposed a meeting of the Administra-
tion to-morrow. He had adopted Mr. Calhoun's idea of giving
Mr. Rush a discretionary power to act jointly with the British
Government in case of any sudden emergency of danger, of
which they and he should judge. I am utterly averse to this;
and I told him that I thought the instructions should be ex-
plicit, authorizing him distinctly to act in specified contingen-
cies, and requiring him in all others to refer for every important
measure to his Government.
2 1st Mr. Banks called here this morning with Mr. Patterson,
of Baltimore. I told him the President thought it most ad-
visable to appoint a native citizen as Consul at Jamaica. He
said a native citizen could do no business there, and the Con-
sular fees would not pay for his stationery. I asked him why
a citizen of the United States would not be permitted to do
business there. He said he would be held a transient person,
and they were not allowed to do business. I said it was strange
that a Consul acknowledged as such should be held a transient
person, and as such forbidden from doing business.
I found in this gentleman the same peremptory tone which
is common among Englishmen when discussing political topics
with Americans, and I was compelled, most reluctantly, to as-
sume a similar tone myself He then became more courteous,
and promised to send me some papers concerning the trade of
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Jamaica. He said they imported from the United States a
hundred thousand barrels of flour a year, and that they would
not suffer the Parliament to make laws for the Colony.
Mr. Gallatin called upon me, just arrived from Pennsylvania.
It has been said he was to pass the winter here; but he says he
comes only for a few days, to settle his accounts and some pri-
vate affairs of his own. He said a half outfit having, as he
had heard, been allowed to Mr. Clay for his share in the nego-
tiation of the Convention of 3d July, 181 5, he thought himself
entitled to make the same claim. I told him I would mention
it to the President for his consideration. He made enquiries
if we had any news from Europe ; and I told him what is now
passing in our diplomatic relations with Great Britain and
Russia. He made some remarks upon them, full of his usual
shrewdness and sagacity. I had received a note from the Pres-
ident requesting me to attend a meeting of the members of
the Administration at one. The meeting lasted till five. I
took with me the draft of my dispatch to R. Rush in answer
to Canning's proposals, with the President's projected amend-
ments and my proposal of amendment upon amendment. We
had a very long discussion upon one phrase, which seemed to
me to require none at all. The sentiment expressed was, that
although we should throw no impediment in the way of an
arrangement between Spain and her ex-Colonies by amicable
negotiation, we should claim to be treated by the South Amer-
icans upon the footing of equal favor with the most favored
nation. The President had proposed a modifying amendment,
which seemed to admit that we should not object to an arrange-
ment by which special favors, or even a restoration of authority,
might be conceded to Spain. To this I strenuously objected,
as did Mr. Calhoun. The President ultimately acceded to the
substance of the phrase as I had in the first instance made the
draft; but finally required that the phraseology of it should
be varipd. Almost all the other amendments proposed by the
President were opposed principally by Mr. Calhoun, who most
explicitly preferred my last substituted paragraph to the Pres-
ident's projected amendment. The President did not insist
upon any of his amendments which were not admitted by gen-
voL. VI, — 13
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194 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
eral consent, *and the final paper, though considerably varied
from my original draft, will be conformable to my own views.
The supplementary instruction I had not finished, but read the
part that I had prepared.
I mentioned also my wish to prepare a paper to be delivered
confidentially to Baron Tuyl, and the substance of which I
would in the first instance express to him in a verbal confer-
ence. It would refer to the verbal communications recently
made by him, and to the sentiments and dispositions manifested
in the extract of a dispatch relating to Spanish affairs which
he lately put into my hands. My purpose would be in a
moderate and conciliatory manner, but with a firm and de-
termined spirit, to declare our dissent from the principles
avowed in those communications ; to assert those upon which
our own Government is founded, and, while disclaiming all in-
tention of attempting to propagate them by force, and all in-
terference with the political affairs of Europe, to declare our
expectation and hope that the European powers will equally
abstain from the attempt to spread their principles in the
American hemisphere, or to subjugate by force any part of
these continents to their will.
The President approved of this idea ; and then taking up the
sketches that he had prepared for his message, read them to us.
Its introduction was in a tone of deep solemnity and of high
alarm, intimating that this country is menaced by imminent
and formidable dangers, such as would probably soon call for
their most vigorous energies and the closest union. It then
proceeded to speak of the foreign affairs, chiefly according to
the sketch I had given him some days since, but with occa-
sional variations. It then alluded to the recent events in Spain
and Portugal, speaking in terms of the most pointed reproba-
tion of the late invasion of Spain by France, and of the prin-
ciples upon which it was undertaken by the open avowal of the
King of France. . It also contained a broad acknowledgment of
the Greeks as an independent nation, and a recommendation
to Congress to make an appropriation for sending a Minister to
them.
Of all this Mr. Calhoun declared his approbation. I ex-
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pressed as freely my wish that the President would reconsider
the whole subject before he should determine to take that
course. I said the tone of the introduction I apprehended
would take the nation by surprise and greatly alarm them. It
would come upon them like a clap of thunder. There had
never been in the history of this nation a period of so deep
calm and tranquillity as we now enjoyed. We never were, upon
the whole, in a state of peace so profound and secure with all
foreign nations as at this timei This message would be a sum-
mons to arms — to arms against all Europe, and for objects of
policy exclusively European — Greece and Spain. It would
be as new, too, in our policy as it would be surprising. For
more than thirty years Europe had been in convulsions ; every
nation almost of which it is composed alternately invading and
invaded. Empires, kingdoms, principalities, had been over-
thrown, revolutionized, and counter-revolutionized, and we
had looked on safe in our distance beyond an intervening
ocean, and avowing a total forbearance to interfere in any of
the combinations of European politics. This message would
at once buckle on the harness and throw down the gauntlet.
It would have the air of open defiance to all Europe, and I
should not be surprised if the first answer to it from Spain and
France, and even Russia, should be to break off their diplo-
matic intercourse with us. I did not expect that the quiet
which we had enjoyed for six or seven years would last much
longer. The aspect of things was portentous; but if we must
come to an issue with Europe, let us keep it off as long as
possible. Let us use all possible means to carry the opinion
of the nation with us, and the opinion of the world.
Calhoun said that he thought there was not the tranquillity
that I spoke of; that there was great anxiety in the thinking
part of the nation ; that there was a general expectation that
the Holy Alliance would employ force against South America,
and that it would be proper that the President should sound
the alarm to the nation. A time was approaching when all its
energies would be needed, and the public mind ought to be
prepared for it.
The President told us confidentially that G. W. Erving had
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Iq6 memoirs of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
written praying that it might be kept secret, because whatever
any person wrote there was reported back against him, but
that, whatever might be reported here, we might set it down
for certain that France and the allies would support Spain in
the attempt to recover her Colonies by force.
I observed to the President that I put very little reliance on
anything written by G. W. Erving. It might or might not
eventuate as he said ; but he knew nothing about the matter
more than was known to the world, and had views of his own
in whatever he wrote.
Mr. Southard said little, but inclined towards my view of
the subject.
The President finally said that he would draw up two sketches
for consideration, conformable to the two different aspects of the
subject. The President and Mr. Calhoun intimated the idea
that there was a material difference in the wars and revolutions
which since the year 1789 to this time have been raging in
Europe, and this last invasion of Spain by France; that this
was a more direct attack upon the popular principle ; and that
although no former message ever censured those overthrows
and conquests before, yet it might be very proper to censure
this now. The question, however, is deferred.
22d. I finished the draft of my second dispatch to R. Rush
upon Canning's proposals. And there must be yet a third. I
also began a written statement of what has passed between
Baron de Tuyl and me concerning the intentions of the Rus-
sian Cabinet, with a view to transmit copies of it and of the
documents to Mr. Middleton and Mr. Rush. Mr. Gallatin was
with the President, but withdrew on my going in. I left with
the President my draft for a second dispatch to R. Rush on
South American affairs. And I spoke to him again urging
him to abstain from everything in his message which the Holy
Allies could make a pretext for construing into aggression
upon them. I said there were considerations of weight which
I could not even easily mention at a Cabinet meeting. If he
had determined to retire from the public service at the end of
his present term, it was now drawing to a close. It was to be
considered now as a whole, and a system of administration for
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a definite term of years. It would hereafter, I believed, be
looked back to as the golden age of this republic, and I felt
an extreme solicitude that its end might correspond with the
character of its progress ; that the Administration might be
delivered into the hands of the successor, whoever he might be,
at peace and in amity with all the world. If this could not be,
if the Holy Alliance were determined to make up an issue with
us, it was our policy to meet, and not to make it. We should
retreat to the wall before taking to arms, and be sure at every
step to put them as much as possible in the wrong. I said
if the Holy Alliance really intended to restore by force the
Colonies of Spain to her dominion, it was questionable to me
whether we had not, after all, been over-hasty in acknowl-
edging the South American independence. It had pledged us
now to take ground which we had not felt at all bound to take
five years ago. At the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle the allies
had discussed what they should do with South America, and
we had not even thought of interfering with them. If they
intend now to interpose by force, we shall have as much as we
can do to prevent them, without going to bid them defiance in
the heart of Europe. Something had been said yesterday, that
if the President did not recommend the recognition of the in-
dependence of the Greeks it would be pressed in the House
of Representatives. What would be Mr. Clay's course in this
case I could not foresee. But he (the President) well knew
that at the time when Mr. Clay so urgently pushed for the
South American independence, his main object was popularity
for himself and to embarrass the Administration. It did not
appear that this object was now so important to him, and, as
he had some prospect of coming to the succession himself, I
should not suppose he would wish it encumbered with a quarrel
with all Europe. But, be that as it may, it was infinitely better
that the impulse should come from Congress than that it should
go from the Executive. Congress are responsible for their
own acts. Foreign powers are apt to take less notice of them
than of Executive measures, and if they put us in attitudes of
hostility with the allies, be the blame upon them. The ground
that I wish to take is that of earnest remonstrance against the
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igS MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November.
interference of the European powers by force with South
America, but to disclaim all interference on our part with
Europe ; to make an American cause, and adhere inflexibly to
that.
The President said he had spoken of the Greeks and of the
Spaniards in his last year's message. I said I should not ob-
ject to paragraphs of a like description, in general terms and
pledging nothing, but I would be specially careful to avoid
anything which may be construed as hostility to the allies.
He said he would fully consider what he should say, and when
prepared with his draft would call a meeting of the members
of the Administration.
24th. Mr. Gallatin was here, and talked much upon the
topics to be touched upon in the President's message. His
views coincided entirely with those which I have so earnestly
urged upon the President, excepting as to the Greeks, to whom
he proposes, as if he was serious, that we should send two or
three frigates to assist them in destroying the Turkish fleet, and
a loan or a subsidy of two millions of dollars. I told Gallatin
that I wished he would talk to the President as he had done
to me, upon everything except the Greeks ; but as to them, I
said, the President had asked me to see and converse with him
on Saturday, which I had declined on account of the same
proposition that he had made in a dispatch more than a year
since, to send a naval force to fight with the Turks.
He spoke with extreme bitterness of Mr. Hyde de Neu-
ville, who, he says, said to him in the presence of ten or twelve
persons that if our claimants upon France failed of obtaining
indemnity it was our own fault, in refusing to connect with it
the claim of France under the eighth article of the Louisiana
Convention; and that if we did not adjust that claim, it was
his opinion France ought to take Louisiana, and that she had
a strong party there.
I called at the President's, and found Mr. Gallatin with him.
He still adhered to his idea of sending a naval force and a loan
of money to the Greeks; and as he is neither an enthusiast nor
a fool, and knows perfectly well that no such thing will be done,
I look for the motives of this strange proposal, and find them
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not very deeply laid. Mr. Gallatin still builds castles in the air
of popularity, and, being under no responsibility for conse-
quences, patronizes the Greek causae for the sake of raising his
own reputation. His measure will not succeed, and, even if it
should, all the burden and danger of it will bear not upon him,
but upon the Administration, and he will be the great cham-
pion of Grecian liberty. 'Tis the part of Mr. Clay towards
South America acted over again. After he withdrew, the Pres-
ident read me his paragraphs respecting the Greeks, Spain,
Portugal, and South America. I thought them quite unexcep-
tionable, and drawn up altogether in the spirit that I had so
urgently pressed on Friday and Saturday. I was highly grati-
fied at the change, and only hope the President will adhere to
his present views.
25th. I made a draft of observations upon the communica-
tions recently received from the Baron de Tuyl, the Russian
Minister. Took the paper, together with the statement I had
prepared of what has passed between him and me, and all the
papers received from him, to the President. I found General
Swartwout, of New York, with him, but he immediately with-
drew. Mr. Southard just then came in, and the President sent
for the other members of the Administration, Mr. Calhoun and
Mr. Wirt. Mr. Crawford continues convalescent, but was not
well enough to attend. My proposal was that a paper like that
which I had prepared, modified as the President should finally
direct, be delivered by me to the Baron de Tuyl in the form of
an inofllicial verbal note; that I should invite him to a confer-
ence, then read the paper to him, deliver to him a copy of it, and
tell him that I was willing to converse with him concerning it
if he thought proper. The paper itself was drawn to correspond
exactly with a paragraph of the President's message which he
had read me yesterday, and which was entirely conformable to
the system of policy which I have earnestly recommended for
this emergency. It was also intended as a firm, spirited, and yet
conciliatory answer to all the communications lately received
from the Russian Government, and at the same time an unequiv-
ocal answer to the proposals made by Canning to Mr. Rush. It
was meant also to be eventually an exposition of the principles
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200 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November.
of this Government, and a brief development of its political
system as henceforth to be maintained : essentially republican
— maintaining its own independence, and respecting that of
others ; essentially pacific — studiously avoiding all involvement
in the combinations of European politics, cultivating peace and
friendship with the most absolute monarchies, highly appre-
ciating and anxiously desirous of retaining that of the Em-
peror Alexander, but declaring that, having recognized the
independence of the South American States, we could not see
with indifference any attempt by European powers by forcible
interposition either to restore the Spanish dominion on the
American Continents or to introduce monarchical principles
into those countries, or to transfer any portion of the ancient
or present American possessions of Spain to any other Euro-
pean power.
This paper was read, and thereupon ensued a desultory dis-
cussion till near five o'clock, when the President adjourned the
meeting till twelve o'clock to-morrow. Calhoun, with many
professions of diffidence and doubt, but only to prompt discus-
sion, questioned whether it would be proper to deliver any such
paper to the Russian Minister. The paper contained rather an
ostentatious display of republican principles ; it was making up
an issue, perhaps too soon, with the Holy Alliance. It would
perhaps be offensive to the Emperor of Russia, and perhaps
even to the British Government, which would by no means
relish so much republicanism. He thought it would be suffi-
cient to communicate to Baron Tuyl a copy of the paragraph
of the President's message to which my paper was adapted.
The message was a mere communication to our own people.
Foreign powers might not feel themselves bound to notice,
what was said in that. It was like a family talking over sub-
jects interesting to them by the fireside among themselves.
Many things might be said there without offence, even if a
stranger should come among them and overhear the conver-
sation, which would be offensive if they went to his house to
say them.
Southard and Wirt both observed that according to that
allusion it was Russia, it was the Holy Alliance, who had
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 2OI
come to our house to proclaim the virtues and the glories of
despotism ; and my paper was nothing more than an answer
to them.
Calhoun said he thought my paper went rather farther than
theirs.
I observed that a copy of that paragraph of the President's
message might suffice for an indication of our principles, but
I thought it due to the honor and dignity of the nation that
an explicit and direct answer should be given to the commu-
nications from the Russian Government. After receiving, one
upon the back of another, so many broad hints from them, the
people of this country, when they come to the knowledge of
it, will ask what was said in answer to them. The answer to
the written notification of the Emperor's determination not to
receive any Minister from South America was the tamest of all
State papers. The first draft of it had been softened first at a
Cabinet meeting, then by an amended draft of the President,
and finally by an amendment of mine upon that of the Presi-
dent. The answers to the notification of the Emperor's hope
and wish that the United States would continue their neutrality
between Spain and South America were merely verbal. We
had no written vouchers of them but in the copies confiden-
tially given by the Baron to me of his dispatches to his Court
concerning them. Then came this last extract of 30th August,
1823, bearding us to our faces upon the monarchical principles
of the Holy Alliance. It was time to tender them an issue.
In the last resort, this was a cause to be pleaded before the
world of mankind. Our country, and the world, would require
that our ground should be distinctly taken, as well as resolutely
maintained. Now, in my belief, was the time for taking it ; and
as I thought the Holy Alliance would not ultimately invade
South America, and firmly believed that the Emperor Alex-
ander did not mean to include us, or any consideration of us,
in his invectives against revolution, I wished to give him an
opportunity of disclaiming any such intention. I believed the
Emperor Alexander was honestly wedded to his system ; that
he was profoundly penetrated with the conviction that he was
laboring for the good of his people and for the welfare of
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202 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
mankind. There was no man living more sensitive to public
opinion, as I knew from a multitude of proofs, but which was
eminently shown by the importance which the Government
itself attached ^o the editorial article in the National Intelli-
gencer, which, at the instance of the Baron de Tuyl, I had
caused to be inserted, concerning the Northwest Coast question.
My object in this paper was to appeal much to the personal
feelings of the Emperor Alexander : to his love of peace ; to
his religious impressions; to his sensibility to ffbblic opinion;
to his old friendly offices and good will towards the United
States. I would search all these sources of action, and bring
him either to a formal disavowal of any dispositions unfriendly
to the United States, or to an express declaration of what his
intentions are.
Calhoun's objections were not supported; but Mr. Wirt made
a question far more important, and which I had made at a
much earlier stage of these deliberations. It was, whether we
shall be warranted in taking so broadly the ground of resist-
ance to the interposition of the Holy Alliance by force to re-
store the Spanish dominion in South America. It is, and has
been, to me a fearful question. It was not now discussed; but
Mr. Wirt remarked upon the danger of assuming the attitude
of menace without meaning to strike, and asked, if the Holy
Allies should act in direct hostility against South America,
whether this country would oppose them by war ? My paper
and the paragraph would certainly commit us as far as the
Executive constitutionally could act on this point ; and if we
take this course, I should wish that a joint resolution of the
two Houses of Congress should be proposed and adopted to
the same purport. But this would render it necessary to com-
municate to them, at least confidentially, the existing state of
things. The communications from Mr. Canning were all, at his
own request, confidential. Those with Baron de Tuyl were yet
so, but he was desirous that part of them should be published,
and I was yet to settle with him whether they should be com-
municated to Congress. My wish was to propose to him that
they should all be communicated, and also that the substance
of them should be communicated to Mr. Greuhm, the Prussian
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 203
Minister here, for his Court; the King of Prussia being one of
the members of the Holy Alliance.
The President did not finally decide upon the point of Mr.
Calhoun's objection to the delivery of any paper to Baron
Tuyl, but retained my draft and the statement of the trans-
actions between the Baron and me, to resume the consideration
of them to-morrow.
Mr. Wirt objected strongly to one paragraph of my draft,
which, he said, was a hornet of a paragraph, and, he thought,
would be excessively offensive.
I said it was the cream of my paper; but I am sure the Presi-
dent will not suffer it to pass. The President seemed to enter-
tain some apprehension that the republicanism of my paper
might indispose the British Government to a cordial concert of
operations with us. He said they were in a dilemma between
their anti-Jacobin policy, the dread of their internal reformers,
which made them sympathize with the Holy Allies, and the
necessities of their commerce and revenue, with the pressure of
their debts and taxes, which compelled them to side with South
American independence for the sake of South American trade.
He believed they must ultimately take this side, but if we
should shock and alarm them upon the political side of the
question, and the Holy Allies could hold out to them anything
to appease the craving of their commercial and fiscal interest,
they might go back to the allies — as Portugal has gone back
— insignificant and despised, but leaving us in the lurch, with
all Europe against us.
I replied that, at all events, nothing that we should now do
would commit us to absolute war; that Great Britain was
already committed more than we ; that the interest of no one
of the allied powers would be promoted by the restoration of
South America to Spain ; that the interest of each one of them
was against it, and that if they could possibly agree among
themselves upon a partition principle, the only possible bait
they could offer to Great Britain for acceding to it was Cuba,
which neither they nor Spain would consent to give her; that
my reliance upon the co-operation of Great Britain rested not
upon her principles, but her interest — this I thought was clear;
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204 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
but that my paper came in conflict with no principle which
she would dare to maintain. We avowed republicanism, but
we disclaimed propagandism ; we asserted national independ-
ence, to which she was already fully pledged. We disavowed
all interference with European affairs, and my whole paper
was drawn up to come in conclusion precisely to the identical
declaration of Mr. Canning himself, and to express our concur-
rence with it.
^^ Mr. Southard and Mr. Wirt supported me in these remarks.
26th. Received a note from the President, advising me to
detain Mr. H. Allen here a few days, to peruse the late dis-
patches from R. Rush relating to South America. I sent im-
mediately for Mr. Allen, who called on me and agreed to wait
a few days. I desired him to call at the office of the Depart-
ment and read there Mr. Rush's dispatches.
I attended the adjourned Cabinet meeting at the President's,
from half-past twelve — four hours. At the President's request,
I read the statement of what has passed between Baron Tuyl
and me since the i6th of last month, and then my proposed
draft of observations upon the communications recently re-
ceived from him. The President then read the draft of the
corresponding paragraph for his message to Congress, and
asked whether it should form part of the message. I took a
review of the preceding transactions of the Cabinet meetings ;
remarking that the present questions had originated in a draft
which he had presented merely for consideration, of an in-
troduction to the message, of unusual solemnity, indicating
extraordinary concern, and even alarm, at the existing state
of things, coupled with two paragraphs, one containing strong
and pointed censure upon France and the Holy Allies for
the invasion of Spain, and the other recommending an ap-
propriation for a Minister to send to the Greeks, and in sub-
stance recognizing them as independent ; that the course now
proposed is a substitute for that, and that it is founded upon
the idea that if an issue must be made up between us and
the Holy Alliance it ought to be upon grounds exclusively
American ; that we should separate it from all European con-
cerns, disclaim all intention of interfering with these, and make
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 205
the stand altogether for an American cause ; that at the same
time the answer to be given to the Russian communications
should be used as the means of answering also the proposals
of Mr. George Canning, and of assuming the attitude to be
maintained by the United States with reference to the designs
of the Holy Alliance upon South America. This being pre-
mised, I observed that the whole of the papers now drawn up
were but various parts of one system under consideration,
and the only really important question to be determined, as it
appeared to me, was that yesterday made by Mr. Wirt, and
which had been incidentally discussed before, namely, whether
we ought at all to take this attitude as regards South America ;
whether we get any advantage by committing ourselves to a
course of opposition against the Holy Alliance. My own
mind, indeed, is made up that we ought thus far to take this
stand ; but I thought it deserved great deliberation, and ought
not to be taken without a full and serious estimate of conse-
quences.
Mr. Wirt then resumed the objection he had taken yesterday,
and freely enlarged upon it. He said he did not think this
country would support the Government in a war for the inde-
pendence of South America. There had never been much
general excitement in their favor. Some part of the people of
the interior had felt warmly for them, but it never had been
general, and never had there been a moment when the people
thought of supporting them by war. To menace without in-
tending to strike was neither consistent with the honor nor
the dignity of the country. It was possible that the proposals
of Mr. Canning themselves were traps laid to ensnare us into
public declarations against the Holy Allies, without intending
even to take part against them ; that if we were to be so far
committed, all the documents ought to be communicated to
Congress, and they ought to manifest their sentiments in the
form of resolutions, and that the Executive ought not to pledge
the honor of the nation to war without taking the sense of the
country with them.
Mr. Calhoun supported the other view of the question. He
said the great object of the measure was to detach Great Britain
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2o6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
definitively from the Holy Alliance. Great Britain would not,
could not, resist them alone, we remaining neutral. She would
fall eventually into their views, and the South Americans would
be subdued. The next step the allies would then take would
be against ourselves — to put down what had been called the
first example of successful democratic rebellion. It was proba-
ble that by taking the stand now the Holy Alliance would be
deterred from any forcible interposition with South America ;
but if not, we ought to sustain the ground now taken, even to
the extent of war. There was danger in both alternatives;
but the immediate danger was light, the contingent one to be
averted was formidable in the extreme. It was wisdom in this,
as in many of the occurrences of life, public and private, to incur
the light hazard for the purpose of warding off the great one.
And as this was the wise course, he had no doubt it would be
sustained by the people of this country, if the exigency should
require it. They would always sustain the wisest course when
it was properly explained to them. He did believe that the
Holy Allies had an ultimate eye to us ; that they would, if not
resisted, subdue South America. He had no doubt they would
retain the country in subjection by military force. Success
would give them partisans. Violent parties would arise in
this country, one for and one against them, and we should
have to fight upon our own shores for our own institutions.
He was therefore in favor of the President's message with the
proposed paragraph. But he thought a copy of it might be
delivered to Baron Tuyl, with notice that it was to be con-
sidered as the answer to the communications recently received
from him. The paragraph in the message said in substance
the same as the draft of the paper; but the message was a talk
among ourselves, which foreigners might be told they have no
right to take notice of To say the same thing directly to him
might be offensive. There was more development in my draft.
There was an ostentatious display of republican contrasted with
monarchical principles, always showing the superiority of the
former. If he consulted his personal inclination, he should be
in favor of the draft. He had no doubt that our own people
would be delighted with it. but he believed it would be deeply
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offensive to the Holy Allies, and also to the British Govern-
ment, who, with regard to monarchical principles, would
sympathize entirely with them.
I said, with regard to the objections of Mr. Wirt, that I
considered them of the deepest moment. I was glad they
had been made, and trusted the President would give them full
consideration before coming to his definitive decision. If they
prevailed, neither the paragraph in the message nor my draft
would be proper. The draft was prepared precisely to corre-
spond with the paragraph in the message. I did believe, how-
ever, that both would be proper and necessary. Not that I
supposed that the Holy Alliance had any intention of ultimately
attacking us, or meant to establish monarchy among us. But
if they should really invade South America, and especially
Mexico, it was impossible, in the nature of things, that they
should do it to restore the old exclusive dominion of Spain.
Spain had not, and never could again have, the physical force
to maintain that dominion; and if the countries should be kept
in subjugation by the armies of the Allies, was it in human
absurdity to imagine that they should waste their blood and
treasure to prohibit their own subjects upon pain of death to
set foot upon those territories? Surely not. If then the Holy
Allies should subdue Spanish America, however they might
at first set up the standard of Spain, the ultimate result of
their undertaking would be to recolonize them, partitioned out
among themselves. Russia might take California, Peru, Chili ;
France, Mexico — where we know she has been intriguing to
get a monarchy under a Prince of the House of Bourbon, as
well as at Buenos Ayres. And Great Britain, as her last re-
sort, if she could not resist this course of things, would take at
least the island of Cuba for her share of the scramble. Then
what would be our situation — England holding Cuba, France
Mexico? And Mr. Gallatin had told me within these four days
that Hyde de Neuville had said to him, in the presence and
hearing of ten or twelve persons, that if we did not yield to
the claim of France under the eighth article of the Louisiana
Convention, she ought to go and take the country, and that she
had a strong party there. The danger, therefore, was brought
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2o8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
to our own doors, and I thought we could not too soon take
our stand to repel it.
There was another point of view, which the President had
in part suggested, and which I thought highly important.
Suppose the Holy Allies should attack South America, and
Great Britain should resist them alone and without our co-
operation. I thought this not an improbable contingency, and
I believed in such a struggle the allies would be defeated and
Great Britain would be victorious, by her command of the sea.
But, as the independence of the South Americans would then
be only protected by the guarantee of Great Britain, it would
throw them completely into her arms, and in the result make
them her Colonies instead of those of Spain. My opinion was,
therefore, that we must act promptly and decisively. But the
act of the Executive could not, after all, commit the nation to
a pledge of war. Nor was war contemplated by the proposals
of Mr. Canning. He had explicitly stated to Mr. Rush from
the beginning that his object was merely a concerted expres-
sion of sentiment, which he supposed would avert the neces-
sity of war; and, as Great Britain was not and would not be
pledged, by anything Mr. Canning had said or proposed, to
war, so would anything now done by the Executive here leave
Congress free hereafter to act or not, according as the circum-
stances of the emergency may require. With regard to the
point made by Mr. Calhoun, my opinion was directly opposite
to that which he had expressed. The communications from
the Russian Minister required a direct and explicit answer.
A communication of the paragraph in the President's message
would be no answer, and if given as an answer would certainly
be very inconsistent with the position that foreigners have no
right to notice it, because it was all said among ourselves.
This would be precisely as if a stranger should come to me
with a formal and insulting display of his principles in the
management of his family and his conduct towards his neigh-
bors, knowing them to be opposite to mine, and as if I, instead
of turning upon him and answering him face to face, should
turn to my own family and discourse to them upon my princi-
ples and conduct, with sharp innuendoes upon those of the
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stranger, and then say to him, "There! take that for your an-
swer. And yet you have no right to notice it ; for it was only
said to my own family, and behind your back." I thought as
the Holy Alliance had come to edify and instruct us with their
principles, it was due in candor to them, and in justice to our-
selves, to return them the compliment. And if the people of
our country should hereafter know, as they must, how much
good advice the Emperor Alexander has been giving us in
private, they would not be satisfied to be told that the only
return we had made to him for it was to send him a copy of
the President's message to Congress. I felt the more solicitude
that a direct and explicit answer should be given him, because
the Baron in one of his dispatches had intimated that I had
expressed not only an earnest desire that we might remain on
good terms with Russia, but high opinions of the Emperor's
moderation. In my report of the conferences, I had stated
what was said by me, and from which the Baron had drawn
his inference. I had told him that, having, while residing
at his Court, witnessed the many acts of friendship for the
United States of the Emperor Alexander, I had formed sen-
timents of high respect for his character, and even of personal
attachment to him. This was true. I thought better of him
than perhaps any other person at this meeting ; and I did not
believe there was one word in my draft that would give him
offence. The avowal of principles connected with the dis-
claimer of interference in European afTairs, of proselytism, and
of hostile purposes, could not offend him. I thought it most
essential. I was willing to agree to any modification which
might be thought advisable, but the distinct avowal of prin-
ciple appeared to me to be absolutely required. The paper
acknowledged that we were aware the monarchical principle
of government was different from ours, but it declared that we
saw no reason why they should not be at peace with each other,
and that we earnestly desired that peace. The Emperor's
reply might be, that he desired equally that peace ; that by the
invasion of Spain the allies meant to interfere neither with the
liberty nor the independence of Spain ; that the Spanish nation
was with them, and that they had only put down a faction,
VOL. vi. — 14
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2IO yfEAfOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
originating in and supported by military mutiny, which the
allies would not recognize.
Mr. Southard and Mr. Wirt both declared that they thought
a distinct and direct answer should be given to the Russian
communications. But they scrutinized and objected to many
of the details of the paper. Wirt, referring again to the para-
graph which he had yesterday called a hornet, said it reminded
him of a Virginian who declared his principle was that if a
man gave him a fillip on the nose he would knock him down
with a brickbat. Southard objected to the admission that we
were aware the monarchical principle of government differed
from ours, after stating that ours were principles of liberty,
independence, and peace. I said that the details of the paper
were entirely at the disposal of the President ; that in drawing
it up my object had been to make it as close, compact, and
significant as possible; that every part of it was connected
with the whole, and that from the first line to the last I meant
all ^h^lllf^ hpar upon the declaration with which it concludes —
nee to Russia and Great Britain,
i he had distinctly perceived that was the object
The President retained the. paper, to determine
o- morrow morning. He approved the draft of
atch, prepared for R. Rush, but enquired what
ar meaning of one paragraph in the first. I told
r me to ask of him, as it was a paragraph in the
wn by himself, and in his own words ; at which
hed. He desired me, however, finally to modify
o R. Rush, so as not to refuse co-operating with
^en if she should yet demur to the recognition
ican independence. He gave my draft of gen-
5 to H. Allen to Mr. Southard, to prepare corre-
ictions to Commodore Hull. It was near five
ng broke up.
Brent brought me this morning a note from the
the draft of my observations on the communi-
received from the Russian Minister; advising
all the paragraphs to which objection had been
ibinet meetings, and requesting me to see the
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1S23.] THE DEPARTMENT OF. STATE. 2II
Baron de Tuyl immediately. I directed a copy to be made of
the paper, omitting all the passages marked by the President
for omission, and desired Mr. Brent to write a note in my
name to the Baron, requesting him to call at the office of the
Department at three o'clock. In the mean time I went to the
President's, and took the draft of my statement of what had
passed between me and the Baron since the i6th of October.
I told the President that I had directed the copy to be made
out, of the observations, conformably to his direction; that
I cheerfully gave up all the passages marked for omission ex-
cepting one ; and that was the second paragraph of the paper,
containing the exposition of our principles. That paragraph
was, in my own estimation, the heart of the paper. All the rest
was only a series of deductions from it. The paper received
from Baron Tuyl, and to which the observations were intended
for an answer, was professedly an exposition of principles.
I had thought it should be met directly by an exposition of
ours. This was done in three lines in the paragraph in ques-
tion. The first paragraph of my paper stated the fact that the
Government of the United States was republican ; the second,
what the fundamental principles of this Government were — re-
ferring them all to Liberty^ Independence^ Peace. These were
the principles from which all the remainder of the paper was
drawn. Without them, the rest was a fabric without a founda-
tion. The positions taken in the paragraph were true. I could
not possibly believe they would give offence to any one. I was
sure they would not to the Emperor Alexander, unless he had
determined to invade South America ; and if he had, this paper,
which was to be our protest against it, could not too distinctly
set forth the principles of our opposition to his design. The
object of the paragraph was to set those principles in the
broadest and boldest relief; to compress into one sentence the
foundation upon which the mind and heart at once could re-
pose for our justification of the stand we are taking against the
Holy Alliance, in the face of our country and of mankind. I
had much confidence in the effect of that paragraph — first, as
persuasion to the Emperor Alexander, and, if that failed, as our
manifesto to the world. I added, by way of apology for the
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212 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
solicitude that I felt on this subject, that I considered this as
the most important paper that ever went from my hands ; that
in this, as in everything I wrote in discharge of the office that
I held, I was the agent of his Administration, the general
responsibility of which rested upon him ; but that, having so
long served himself in the Department, I need not say to him
that besides that general responsibility there was a peculiar
one resting upon each head of a Department for the papers
issued from his own office, and this was my motive for wishing
to retain a paragraph which I considered as containing the
soul of the document to which it belonged. I should only say,
further, that after making these observations I should cheer-
fully acquiesce in his decision.
He admitted that there was a peculiar responsibility upon
me for the paper, but said he had thought the exposition of
principles was sufficiently clear from the part of the paper pro-
posed to be retained ; that there had been apprehensions that
this paragraph might give offence, appearing as a direct avowal
of principles contrary to those acted upon by the Holy Allies,
and thus implying censure upon them; that the crisis was a
great one, and it was all-important that the measures now
taken should be adopted with all possible unanimity ; that if,
however, I would send over to him the original draft of the
paper, he would again examine it, and let me know his final
opinion with regard to the re-admission of the paragraph.
I returned to the office, and sent him the draft, the copy
having been made with the paragraphs omitted.
Baron Tuyl came before I had received my draft back from
the President. I told him that according to our agreement I
had sent to enquire, with regard to the publication of the two
notes which had passed between us, what were his definitive
wishes ; that the session of Congress was about to commence,
and, if he wished it, our two notes would be communicated to
them with the President's message ; that we should prefer this
course, and even that the whole substance of what had passed
at our verbal conferences, and the extract which he had com-
municated to me, dated 30th August, with some observations
upon the whole, which I was directed to read and deliver to
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1823] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 213
him now, should be thus made known to Congress and the
public. But in this respect we should take the course most
agreeable to him.
He said that he did not see any objection to the communica-
tion and publication of the two notes, but with regard to the
rest perhaps his Government might not wish that it should
be made public. The note of ist September extract might be
called even more than confidential, and he would thank me if,
after the President shall have done with it, I would return it to
him. The extract sent him of 30th August was, in its express
terms, to be confidentially used ; and as the publication would
in all probability produce excitement and occasion public ob-
loquy, not only upon his Government but upon the President's
Administration itself, he believed it would be on the whole
best not to publish them ; but he would be glad to take a day
or two further to consider of it. As to a publication by him,
as I had observed to him, foreign Ministers, by the freedom
of the Press, had the power to avail themselves of it, but he
should make no use of that expedient.
I said that with regard to the effect of publication to pro-
duce animadversions upon his Government, I wished to leave
it entirely to his own consideration. I had no doubt it would
excite censure upon the Administration ; but for that we were
prepared. We knew it would come upon anything we should
do, and we knew the extent of its power. We wished, there-
fore, that he should take no account whatever of that, as we
should prefer the publication of the whole.
While we were at this stage of the conversation, Mr. Brent
called me out and gave me a note from the Pfesident, return-
ing my original draft, expressing the apprehension that the
paragraph of principles contained a direct attack upon the Holy
Allies, by a statement of principles which they had violated,
but yet consenting that I should re-insert the paragraph, on
account of the importance that I attached to it. I returned
to the Baron, and read him the copy of my observations as it
had been made, omitting the contested paragraph ; and I told
him that I should furnish him a copy of it in the course of the
day. He thanked me for the communication, of which, he
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214 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUIMCY ADAMS. [November,
said, he should immediately send a copy to his Court. With
regard to speculation upon what might be done or intended
concerning South American affairs, he could foretell nothing,
because he could foresee nothing. His instructions said no-
thing to him of it. But of the generally friendly dispositions
of the Emperor towards the United States he was perfectly
sure. The United States were a republic. It was clear that in
a republic republican principles must prevail. Between the
first principles of republican and of monarchical government
it was not necessary, nor could it be useful, to enter upon a
discussion. It was one of the most difficult questions of public
law, about which it was not probable that the opinions of men
would ever be brought to agree ; but that difference of prin-
ciple did not necessarily involve hostile collision between them.
The Imperial Government distinguished clearly between a re-
public like that of the United States and rebellion founded on
revolt against legitimate authority. What he complained of
was, that in the minds of many persons here, and in the repre-
sentations of others, this distinction was confounded; that no
credit was given to his Government for it, and that a disbelief
of its being recognized was inculcated. As to the communi-
cation and publication of the papers, he would now say that
he wished none of them should be published. I had told him
that if the two notes alone should be communicated, and some
members of Congress should accidentally hear that anything
else had passed, there would probably be a resolution of one
or the other House calling for it. And where asking for such
a resolution was sufficient to obtain its adoption, and might
draw forth all the papers that had passed, he preferred that no
part of it should be communicated. It might in some sort
personally implicate himself with his own Government, rie
had, indeed, done nothing that he could not fully justify; but
he had not been specially instructed to address an official note
to this Government, even upon the resolution of the Emperor
not to receive any South American Agents. He had thought
it the best mode of making the Emperor's determination
known, and with the same view he had informed the other
members of the Corps Diplomatique residing here that he had
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 215
addressed such a note to me. He should deem this a sufficient
execution of the instructions to give publicity to the Emperor's
decision.
I told him we should in that case consider all that had passed
a^ yet confidential, and he might be assured that his confidence
should in no case be abused. It was possible that members of
Congress might get some intimation of what had been done,
particularly as there had been communications between us and
Great Britain also relating to South America. But if such a
resolution as I had suggested might pass should be adopted,
there was usually reserved an exception of all such informa-
tion as the President might think it improper to communicate,
and nothing would be given which would compromise him.
He said that after receiving the copy of my observations
perhaps something would occur to him on which he should be
glad to confer with me again, in which case he would ask for
another interview. I told him I should always be happy to
receive him.
Soon after he left me, Mr. Gallatin came in to ask if I had
delivered to the President his letter claiming a half outfit upon
the negotiation of the Convention of 3d July, 18 1 5, because it
had been allowed to Mr. Clay. In the hurry of our late busi-
ness it had not been taken to the President, and, Mr. Brent
having left the office, it could not now be found. Gallatin en-
tered into conversation with me on public affairs, and told me
he had been with the President, who had read to him my ob-
servations on the late communications from Baron Tuyl. He
had seen nothing objectionable in them except one paragraph,
which he thought would certainly be offensive to the Emperor,
because it contained a direct censure upon what he had done,
by an exposition of principles with which he would not agree
— liberty being nothing to him; and as to independence, it was
his habit to meddle and interfere with everything. Ever since
the restoration of the Bourbons, there was nothing, even the
smallest details, in which his Ambassadors did not interfere in
France. They had destroyed the Duke of Richelieu by making
him change the election law against his will ; and he had even
interfered here, to advise us not to take Florida. The Emperor
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2i6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
Alexander had at one time inclined to the liberal opinions; but
that was now much changed. In 1814, Canning, answering
some smart speech of Madame de Stael's, said to her, " You
had that from your Jacobin friend the Emperor of Russia."
This was reported within twenty-four hours to the Emperor,
to whom some explanatory apology was made. But now the
Emperor's prejudices are quite of a different character. The
alteration was said to have been effected by the murder of
Kotzebue.
I told Mr. Gallatin that I had pleaded hard with the President
for the paragraph, which I thought altogether essential to the
paper, but that I had read the paper without the paragraph to
Baron Tuyl. I went, between five and six, again to the Presi-
dent's, and told him of the interview I had had with the Baron,
and that I had read the paper to him, with the omission of the
paragraph; and I reported to him the substance of all that had
passed between the Baron and me. He desired me to see the
Baron again and tell him that if there should be a call of Con-
gress concerning his correspondence and conferences with me,
it would be answered by a report from me, which should be
shown to him before it is sent in.
28th. J. W. Taylor was here part of the evening, just arrived
from New York. He says there were this afternoon one hun-
dred and twenty seats of members of the House already taken,
and he had no doubt there were one hundred and fifty members
in the city. This is earlier than usual. We had about two
hours of conversation upon various political topics — the recent
election in the State of New York, the impending election
of Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the more
distant Presidential election. He spoke especially of the elec-
tion of a Vice-President, and intimated that Mr. Crawford's
friends had in view for that office Governor Yates, of New
York, who desired it. I asked him what was to be done with
Mr. Tompkins, who had not declined. He seemed to think
that after eight years' service it was common law that the Vice-
Presidency as well as the Chief Magistracy should change
hands. And he said that as he came through the city of
New York he heard that he was in prison for ten thousand
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 217
dollars at the suit of Peter Jay Munro. It was for money that
Munro had been compelled to pay as bondsman or endorser
for Tompkins; but he understood it was probable the affair
would be adjusted. No doubt it was desirable that some pro-
vision should be made for the comfortable support of Mr.
Tompkins, but the character of the State and of the nation was
too much at stake for his re-election to the office of Vice-Presi-
dent. It was possible, perhaps not improbable, that there
should be three candidates for the Presidency, to be chosen by
the House of Representatives, and no majority be found prac-
ticable for either of them — in which case the Executive Gov-
ernment must be administered by the Vice-President ; though
he knew not whether for a whole Presidential term or only
until a new election for President could be held.
I told him I had seen a paragraph in the Richmond Enquirer
stating that there was a plan to that effect on foot, and that the
Vice-President thus to be chosen had been named to them.
This was all that I knew of the matter. But there would be
so great inconvenience in devolving upon the Vice-President
the Executive power, from mere inability to choose a President,
that if the case should occur of three candidates, as he had
supposed, and no majority could be formed for either, I should
expect one of them would ultimately withdraw.
He said neither of them could withdraw, as he could not
prevent those who adhered to him from voting for him.
I said that if the case was supposable that I should be one
of them, and should have of the three the smallest number of
electoral votes, I should not only think it my duty to withdraw,
but to declare that if elected I would not accept — rather than
that the election should fail.
We had also much conversation upon the approaching choice
of Speaker, and the various contingencies of Taylor's compe-
tition with Clay, Barbour, and perhaps Webster. He did not
know whether Clay intended to stand as a candidate or decline;
and if he should stand, whether he (Taylor) should stand against
him or decline. I could give him no information ; but only told
him that if he should stand, he would have my best wishes for
his success. He said about one-half the delegation from New
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2i8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
York in the House were personally and politically his friends ;
the other half were also personally friendly to him, but would
vote as Mr. Van Buren would prescribe. He said also that
Barbour's friends were sanguine for his success, in the hope of
deterring Clay from offering, by a show of competition.
29th. Mr. Salazar came to the office. I told him that having
received his first letter at Boston, the President being in Vir-
ginia, it had not been in my power immediately to answer him ;
that on receiving the second here I had prepared a draft of an
answer, and on submitting it to the President he had thought it
would be best that I should first see and personally converse
with him upon it. I then read him the draft of my letter, which,
after setting forth the friendly dispositions of this Government
to all the South American nations, and particularly to the re-
public of Colombia, enquired whether the Colombian Govern-
ment held itself responsible for the acts of the Government of
Peru, of which the United States or their citizens have cause
to complain.
He said immediately that he thought not. I observed that
we had received a direct complaint from the Government of
Peru against Captain Stewart, which we should directly answer ;
that we had proofs that the complaint was unfounded; and
had causes of complaint against the Governments of Peru and
Chili.
He said that his instructions were merely to transmit the
papers containing the complaints, without entering into any
discussion about them ; that the Minister of State of Peru had
written to him saying that a Minister from Peru to the United
States would soon be appointed, and in the mean time request-
ing him to communicate the documents of complaint against
Captain Stewart. There was a treaty of alliance between Co-
lombia and Peru, by virtue of which General Bolivar, with his
army, was at Lima; and that was the interest which Colombia
had in the complaint. But he was sensible he was not the
person through whom the complaint should be made, as he
was not the Minister of Peru ; and he had so written to his
Government, nor should he do anything further in the case.
I told him I had heard of the treaty between Colombia and
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1823.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 219
Peru that he had mentioned, and that it had also been con-
cluded with Chili, and was proposed to Buenos Ayres; and
Mr. Todd had understood Dr. Gual to say that he (Salazar)
would communicate it immediately after his arrival in this
country.
He said he would communicate it; and he gave me the
report made by the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr.
Gual, to the Congress in May last, and read to me a passage
in it relating to the United States, and the project of a treaty
of commerce with them. He said the Colombian Government
were desirous of concluding such a treaty with us, but the only
question was of the place where it should be made. They were
desirous, chiefly for the advantage of the example in Europe,
that it might be negotiated at Bogota. And he added that the
Swedish Government had sent last winter Mr. Lorich there
with proposals for commercial negotiation.
I told him that the late Mr. Torres, in his notes requesting
the acknowledgment of the independence of the republic of
Colombia, had also formally proposed the negotiation of a
treaty of commerce, and, as it was usual that the treaty should
be held at the residence of the Government to which it is pro-
posed, we had expected it would, be negotiated here. I read
to him the passage in the note of Mr. Torres which proposed
the treaty. But, I said, we were not tenacious of making it
here, and Mr. Anderson had a full power and instructions for
negotiating at Bogota. But, as the proposal for the treaty
came from thence, it would be acceptable to know what the
ideas of the Colombian Government were with regard to the
details of the treaty.
He said he had a project of a treaty, which he would send
me. He spoke also of the misunderstanding which has arisen
between Dr. Gual and Colonel Todd, with much apparent
regret; said that in 18 18 Mr. Irvine had been as an Agent]
of this Government at Angostura, and had written some very
offensive letters to General Bolivar; that Mr. Todd's corre-
spondence had assumed much of the character of that of Mr.
Irvine ; that copies of all the correspondence had been trans-
mitted to him, but he had been instructed to make no com-
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220 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
plaint concerning it There was one paper among the rest,
however, which seemed very singular — an address from Col-
onel Todd to the Vice-President, Santander, expressed thus:
" C. S. Todd, as a citizen of the United States, requests an
exequatur for a Consul." Mr. Todd, being an Agent of the
Government of the United States, could not with propriety
make a demand as a private citizen, and it was irregular for
him to make any demand otherwise than through the Min-
ister of Foreign Affairs. I told him I greatly regretted these
unpleasant occurrences between Dr. Gual and Colonel Todd ;
that upon the arrival of Mr. Anderson I hoped they would all
terminate, as thenceforward Mr. Todd would hold no more
official correspondence with the Colombian Government ; that
Mr. Todd had thought Dr. Gual was unfavorably disposed to-
wards the United States, particularly in the transactions relating
to the repeal of the discriminating duty upon merchandise, seven
and a half per cent, higher upon importations from America
than from Europe. I then related to him the statement of ob-
stacles raised by Dr. Gual to this repeal, as reported by Colonel
Todd, and his reasons alleged for applying to a different channel
of communication with the Vice-President.
He said he did not know what motive Dr. Gual could have
for being unfriendly to the United States ; that for himself, he
had been so fully convinced that the discriminating duty had
been a mere error in the drawing up of the law, that he had
written to General Soublette requesting him to supersede, even
by anticipation, the levying of the extra duty upon merchan-
dise from the United States, which he had accordingly done.
And he was happy to observe that the trade from the United
States to Colombia was rapidly increasing.
I then spoke to him of the negotiation between Mr. Rush
and Mr. Canning, recently commenced, and of the manifesta-
tions of the disposition of the Emperor of Russia regarding
South America. And I told him he would see by the Presi-
dent's message to Congress the deep interest we were taking
in the maintenance of their independence ; and Mr. Ravenga
would inform his Government how earnestly we were pressing
the acknowledgment of it by Great Britain.
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He said he had received a letter from Ravenga requesting
him to offer me his thanks for the instructions to Mr. Rush, in
consequence of which he had so earnestly befriended him. He
spoke of the Colombian loan, which had proved so disastrous
in London, and had caused the imprisonment of Mr. Ravenga,
and asked me whether I thought Mr. Rush could, notwith-
standing his public character, act as an arbitrator with Mr.
Baring, as had been reported.
I said I knew not enough of the particulars of the case to
form an opinion upon it.
He said that, politically speaking, he thought the loan ought
to be ratified and fully paid ; but that, considered economic-
ally, Mr. Zea had been egregiously taken in. As to the Holy
Alliance, if they should attack Colombia, he had no doubt
his country would maintain her independence ; but, although
the army would be rather gratified than displeased with the
continuance of the war, the country would suffer by it most
severely. The spirit of independence he was sure could not
be put down by the united power of all Europe.
The Baron de Tuyl called next, and said he came in conse-
quence of the invitation I had given him to make any observa-
tions that might occur to him upon the paper that I had de-
livered to him. He had brought it back with a paper marking
certain alterations, and one omission, which he wished might
be made before he should forward it to his Government. He
apologized for having written in English the alterations that
he desired, which he said was as if he should ask Mr. Chateau-
briand to alter a paper written by him in French. He had first
thought of writing in French his proposed alterations, but, the
idiom of the languages being different, he could not so well
have adapted the expressions to his ideas.
I took the papers, and told him I would do everything in my
power to accommodate his wishes. The changes that he de-
sires are a softening of certain expressions that bear hard upon
the Government of Spain in South America, and which place
in the same line a deprecation of the Emperor's hostility to the
United States and their institutions, and of his interference be-
tween Spain and South America. The Baron said that he was
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222 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December,
SO perfectly sure of the Emperor's friendly dispositions to the
United States and that he had no hostility to their institutions,
that upon the mere expression of a doubt concerning them, his
Government might suppose that he had not done justice to
their sentiments in this respect. But as to South America it
was not in his power to speak, for he really did not know what
the views of his Government were, having received no instruc-
tions whatever concerning them.
December 1st. The Baron de Tuyl, Russian Minister, and
Baron de Stackelberg, Swedish Charge d'Affaires, came and
announced to me the decease, at five o'clock this morning, of
Mr. Frederick Greuhm, Minister Resident from Prussia. They
said they had been to his house, had sealed his papers, and
caused them to be transported to the house of the Baron de
Tuyl ; of all which they should give information to their re-
spective Ministers at Berlin, to be communicated to the Prussian
Government. They now came to give the same notice to this
Government, and to ask me if I would favor them with my ad-
vice respecting the interment of the deceased. I said it must
depend on Mr. Greuhm's family where he should be buried,
whether at Georgetown, or at the grave-yard in Washington,
where the members of Congress are interred. If the latter, an
application for the purpose to the city authorities would be
necessary, which I would readily make if they desired ; and I
was assured the Government of the United States would be
solicitous to show every mark of respect on the occasion that
was due, as well to the personal character of the deceased as
to the station that he held.
I called at the President's and consulted him with regard to
what should be done. It is the first instance of the decease of
a foreign Minister at the seat of Government since the exist-
ence of the Union. The President thought some respectful
notice of the funeral due from the Government; and it oc-
curred to him as proper that the President should send his
carriage, and that the heads of Departments should attend.
Whether it should be noticed by the two Houses of Congress
was the next question. Mr. Calhoun came in while I was
there, and on consultation it was advised that I should this
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1S23.I THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 223
evening see Mr. Gaillard, the President of the Senate, and Mr.
Clay, Speaker of the House, and confer with them on what
they might think the Houses would be disposed to do. After
dinner, I called first on Mr. Gaillard, President of the Senate,
at Tims*s. I found there with him Mr. Dickerson, of New
Jersey, Bell, of New Hampshire, and Chandler and Holmes, of
Maine. After some conversation, they agreed that Mr. Gaillard
should to-morrow morning informally mention to the Senators
the decease of Mr. Greuhm, and they should consider whether
formally or informally they should attend his funeral. I then
went to Mr. Davis's, and there saw Mr. Clay, who mentioned
a strong disposition to do anything that might be proper to
show respect to the deceased and his Government. Thence I
called at Mr. Carbery the Mayor's. He was not at home, but
I afterwards met him, and he came to my house. He under-
took that a grave should be allowed to be dug for Mr. Greuhm
in the navy-yard ground, as was requested by Barons Tuyl and
Stackelberg. I had received a note from them to that effect.
2d. Two notes reciprocally passed between the Barons Tuyl
and Stackelberg with me concerning the funeral of Mr. Greuhm.
They informed me that it would take place the day after to-
morrow morning, at eleven o'clock, from Dr. Laurie's church,
in F Street, to which place the corpse will be previously trans-
ported. They desired also that Mf. Ringgold, the Marshal of
the District, might be requested to attend, for the preservation
of order. I sent for the Marshal, who very readily agreed to
attend and to give his assistance for making all the necessary
arrangements. They had drawn up an order of procession, to
which we made, with their assent, some modifications. I called
at the President's, and stated to him the question how Mr.
Salazar, the Minister from the republic of Colombia, was to
be considered on this occasion. We could not invite him to
attend, and they would certainly not. While I was at the
President's, Mr. Parrott, of New Hampshire, and several other
members, of both Houses, came in.
Dined at the French Consul General Petry's. He had ex-
pected the arrival this day of his successor, Mr. Durant Saint-
Andre, but he did not come. Heads of Departments and the
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224 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [December.
foreign Corps Diplomatique were there. I spoke to Baron
Stackelberg, and afterwards to Baron Tuyl, about Mr. Salazar.
the Colombian Minister, to enquire if they intended to invite
him to attend the funeral to-morrow. They said it was " de
toute impossibilite/* and reasoned very gravely with me to
prove it.
In the evening I called again upon Mr. Clay, and afterwards
upon Mr. Gaillard, to inform them of the arrangements made
for the funeral of Mr. Greuhm. They said it was probable
the two Houses would adjourn over the day without public
assignment of the reason. But Clay said he did not know but
there might be a debate in the House upon it. He entered
also into conversation upon the message, which, he said, seemed
to be the work of several hands, and that the War and Navy
Departments made a magnificent figure in it, as well as the
Post Office. I said there was an account of a full treasury ; and
much concerning foreign affairs, which was within the business
of the Department of State.
He said, yes, and the part relating to foreign affairs was, he
thought, the best part of the message. He thought the Gov-
ernment had weakened itself and the tone of the country by
withholding so long the acknowledgment of the South Amer-
ican independence, and he believed even a war for it against ail
Europe, including even England, would be advantageous to us.
I told him I believed a war for South American independence
might be inevitable, and, under certain circumstances, might be
expedient, but that I viewed war in a very different light from
him — as necessarily placing high interests of different portions
of the Union in conflict with each other, and thereby endan-
gering the Union itself
Not a successful war, he said. But a successful war, to be
sure, created a military influence and power, which he con-
sidered as the greatest danger of war. He said he had thought
of offering a resolution to declare this country an asylum for
all fugitives from oppression, and to connect with it a proposal
for modifying the naturalization law, to make it more easily
attainable. The foreigners in New York are petitioning Con-
gress to that effect, and Clay will turn his liberality towards
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them to account. It was near eleven in the evening when I
got home.
3d. The Barons de Tuyl and Stackelberg came, and men-
tioned several of the minute particulars of the funeral arrange-
ments for to-morrow, which they proposed in conformity with
usages existing in Europe, but which they wished to accom-
modate altogether to impressions of propriety prevailing here.
One proposal was, that Baron Maltitz should carry upon a
cushion, preceding the hearse, the ribbon and cross of the Order
of the Red Eagle of the third class, of which Mr. Greuhm was
a Knight. Another question was, whether the Corps Diplo-
matique should attend in full-dress embroidered uniforms, or
merely in black clothes. Another, who it would be proper
should attend as pall-bearers.
I advised them not to carry the cushion with the ribbon and
cross ; for if they did, there would be a danger that the people
would take them for Freemasons ; that they should rather go
in black clothes than in full-dress uniforms ; and that the pall-
bearers should all be members of the Diplomatic Corps.
I called at the President's. While I was there, Mr. Calhoun
came in. He seemed quite alarmed lest the paragraph of the
President's message relating to the proposals made to Euro-
pean nations for abolishing private war upon the sea should be
mistaken for a proposition merely to abolish privateering. He
seemed to wish that an explanatory and commendatory editorial
article might be put into the newspaper concerning it. He said
Mr. Crowninshield and Mr. Bradley had both disapproved of
it. But I thought no explanatory or commendatory paragraph
necessary.
4th. A violent storm of rain, which continued through the
whole day. Lieutenant Weed, of the Marine Corps, came from
the Secretary of the Navy, to say that he thought of* counter-
manding the order to the corps to turn out for the proces-
sion; with which opinion I fully concurred. At eleven o'clock
the service was performed by Dr. Laurie at his church — a
prayer, short address, and two funereal hymns. The Corps
Diplomatique were all there ; Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Southard, a few
other officers of Government, and not more than two members
VOL. VI.— 15
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226 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
of Congress. The procession was of about twenty-five carriages
— Mr. Southard went with me. The rain poured in torrents
during the whole procession, and at the grave. The procession
broke up there.
I took Mr. Southard, on our return, to his office at the Navy-
Department. On the way we talked of political manoeuvring
now on foot. The caucus is maturing, and is to be precipitated.
One hundred and fifteen expected to attend. Southard spoke
of his late colleague Dickerson with much bitterness, and says
he is extremely bitter, particularly against him, but that he has
no influence whatever in New Jersey.
I went to the President's, and found Gales, the half-editor
of the National Intelligencer, there. He said the message was
called a war message; and spoke of newspaper paragraphs
from Europe announcing that an army of twelve thousand
Spaniards was to embark immediately to subdue South America.
I told him there was absurdity on the face of these paragraphs,
as the same newspapers announced with more authenticity the
disbanding of the Spanish army. The President himself is sin-
gularly disturbed with these rumors of invasion by the Holy
Alliance.
yamiary ist, 1824. — Robert S. Garnett, a member of the
House of Representatives, called upon me this morning and
told me there had been an explosion at Richmond ; that, to the
great surprise of everybody, Tyler's Report against the Anti-
Caucus Resolutions of the Legislature of Tennessee had been
indefinitely postponed by a majority of one vote in the House
of Delegates of Virginia — seventy-seven to seventy-six.
George Sullivan came with a draft of a letter to Governor
Eustis upon the state of the Massachusetts claim. He asked
my advice concerning it, which I gave him freely. I proposed
to him several alterations, which he said he would make, and
I advised him especially to avoid every expression which might
appear to abandon any portion of the claim. He said Mr.
Calhoun had told him he must classify the claim, for that the
President would send it to Congress. But, Sullivan added, it
should not go to Congress.
We all paid the usual New Year's visit at the President's;
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and, although the weather was dull and rainy, the company was
unusually numerous.
4th. Called and saw Mr. Poinsett, and conversed with him
upon Mr. Webster's resolution respecting the Greeks. I told
him there was a person probably now at Constantinople upon
an errand which might suffer by these movements in Congress.
He said Webster would be satisfied if the Government would
appoint Edward Everett as a Commissioner to go to Greece.
There were objections to that. It would destroy all possibility
of our doing anything at Constantinople, and Everett was al-
ready too much committed as a partisan.
He said Everett was to be here this day, or in a day or two
more. He said Clay was threatening to come out on the affair
of the Greeks, and probably would suffer in public estimation
by the course he would take on it
Mr. Blunt spent the evening here. He gave me some in-
formation concerning the Hawkins Dauphin Island contract.
Blunt spoke also in favorable terms of Mr. De Witt Clinton,
and intimated that there were projects of coalition between him
and Mr. Calhoun. I repeated what I had said to Mr. McRae
on this subject, and hoped no friend of mine would make ad-
vances of any kind to Mr. Clinton, of whose talents I had a high
opinion, with whom I had no personal misunderstanding, and
with whose prospects I had neither community nor enmity.
5th. D. P. Cook brought me a letter to him from S. Sibley^
former delegate from Michigan, soliciting for an appointment
as a Judge there. Cook spoke much also of N. Edwards, of
the President, and of the mission to Mexico. I told him what
the President had said to me respecting the part Mr. Edwards
was understood to have taken last winter in the suppressed
document affair.
Cook said that the President had alleged last summer Ed-
wards's ill health for not appointing him Postmaster-General ;
now a different reason was assigned for not appointing him to
Mexico, and if what Edwards had done last winter had dis-
pleased the President, he must consider what he (Cook) had
done as having equally displeased him.
I said there was a material difference between him and
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228 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
Edwards in that affair; his conduct having been public, and
in the discharge of public duties, while that of Mr. Edwards
had been anonymous and intriguing — a partisan project, con-
certed between Edwards and Ingham, one principal purpose
of which was to get Gales and Seaton displaced as printers to
Congress, and Calhoun's printers of the Washington Repub-
lican appointed in their stead.
Cook said he had known nothing of this design, though
he had voted for Gideon and Way as public printers; and
he admitted the distinction between his case and that of Mr.
Edwards.
6th. I called at the President's, and asked him if it would be
agreeable to him to attend at the party we propose to give the
day after to-morrow to General Jackson, it being the anniver-
sary of his victory at New Orleans. We have invited all the
members of both Houses of Congress excepting Alexander
Smyth and John Floyd. Their personal deportment to me has
been such that I could not include them in the invitation. To
avoid inviting the President I thought might be taken as a
failure of attention to him; though I did not expect he would
come. He said he would think of it and give me an answer.
7th. I went into the House of Representatives, and heard a
debate upon the admission of Parmenio Adams as a member
from the Twenty-ninth District of New York, instead of Isaac
Wilson, who had been returned. Wilson had been ejected
from his seat yesterday, and Adams was admitted to it this day.
The question turned upon the effect o{ onevoXjt, through which
the pen had been drawn. The inspectors of the election rejected
this vote, which was for Wilson; and the Committee of Elec-
tions, and the House, by a vote of one hundred and sixteen to
eighty-five, confirmed the decision. It was said that many of
the votes in the House depended upon another and a non-
apparent question — Wilson being for, and Adams against, a
caucus. Many of the members came and spoke to me ; among
the rest, Mr. Fuller, who said Mr. Ingham had been with him
and expressed great concern at certain newspaper hostilities
against Mr. Calhoun in the National Journal, a paper recently
set up here. He was exceedingly anxious for peace between
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me and Mr. Calhoun. Fuller told him that all he had seen of
that character was defensive, and said to me that he thought
the defensive only should still be maintained.
8th. I called at the President's, and while I was there Mr.
Calhoun came, with a deputation of five Cherokee Indians.
This is the most civilized of all the tribes of North American
Indians. They have abandoned altogether the life of hunters,
and betaken themselves to tillage. These men were dressed
entirely according to our manner. Two of them spoke English
with good pronunciation, and one with grammatical accuracy.
This was a young man of twenty-three, who has passed three
or four years at a missionary school in Connecticut. He in-
terpreted for his father, who made a speech to the President
in the figurative style of savage oratory, with frequent recur-
rence to the idea of the Great Spirit above. They gave me
some account of their present institutions, which are incipient.
On returning to the office, I found Baron Tuyl there. He
read me extracts from two dispatches which he has received
from his Government — one, expressing satisfaction at the ex-
planatory paragraph in the National Intelligencer; the other,
stating the adjustment of the differences between the Emperor
Alexander and the Ottoman Porte.
I told Baron Tuyl that I should shortly send him a copy of
the Act of Congress concerning discriminating duties.
This being the anniversary of the victory at New Orleans,
we gave an evening party or ball to General Jackson, at which
about one thousand persons attended. General Jackson came
about eight o'clock, and retired after supper. The dancing
continued till near one in the morning. The crowd was great,
and the house could scarcely contain the company. But it all
went off in good order, and without accident. The President
this morning excused himself from attending, as I had expected
he would. He said that when Mr. Crawford went into Vir-
ginia last summer he (the President) had pointedly avoided
meeting him — even when he was sick at Governor Barbour's;
and at the present moment, if he should depart from his rule
of not visiting at private houses, it might be thought he was
countenancing one of the candidates for the next Presidency,
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230 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
while he had so cautiously abstained from giving even seeming
countenance to another.
9th. At the President's. I found Mr. Poinsett there. He
was making some enquiries for the Committee of Foreign
Relations, of which he is a member — whether it might be
stated in debate, on Mr. Webster's motion for an appropriation
for a Commissioner to be sent to Greece, that the Executive is
averse to the measure ; also, what would be the views of the
Executive as to an Act of Congress authorizing the blockade
of Porto Rico, and perhaps Cuba — as a measure of defence, or
retaliation upon piracies and piratical privateering.
lOth. Received a note from the President, calling a Cabi-
net meeting at one o'clock. I met Blunt, and Mr. Kelly, the
Senator from Alabama, as I was going to my office. They
detained me till the President sent for me. I found Mr. Cal-
houn and Mr. Southard at the President's. Mr. Wirt came in
afterwards.
The first subject referred by the President to the meeting
was his draft of an answer to the resolution of the House of
Representatives upon Mallary's motion, which simply was,
that there was no information upon the subject in his pos-
session which could, without inconvenience to the public
service, be communicated to the House. This was unani-
mously approved.
The next was upon Mr. Poinsett's enquiries. As to his wish
for permission to state in debate that the Executive was averse
to the measure proposed by Mr. Webster, Calhoun and South-
ard thought the views of the Executive ought not to be com-
municated in that way.
I did not discuss the question, knowing that Webster had
consulted Calhoun and Southard before he offered his resolu-
tion, and had been told by them that the Executive had no
objection to it. As for the disposition of the committee to
authorize the Executive to blockade Porto Rico and Cuba,
Calhoun came out in the most decisive manner against it, and
questioned even the power of Congress to give the Executive
such authority, because, he said, it would be war. This was the
first time Calhoun had ever started a question upon the power
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of Congress in this particular, and it led to much discussion,
in which all the debatable ground of that part of the Constitu-
tion of the United States was gone over. Since the argument
upon President Washington's proclamation of neutrality, this
has always been difficult ground, and the different views of
the question have led to many curious and absurd results.
Calhoun's argument led to the conclusion that Congress could
not authorize the Executive contingently to commit any act
hostile in its nature against a foreign nation.
I referred to his own order authorizing General Jackson to
enter upon the Spanish territory in the Seminole War; to
which he made no reply. Wirt thought blockading the ports
would be objectionable, because it would affect the rights not
only of Spain, but of other nations. I thought issuing letters
of marque and reprisal might be better.
Calhoun thought any measure would be inexpedient, as
tending to involve us in war upon a small point, just at the
time when we had taken a bold stand upon great and general
interests. He thought it best to make no other movement at
present, but to look round us and wait for consequences. He
said there had been no late captures, and there was no imme-
diate danger.
Wirt said Randall had told him all the property taken by
the Porto Rico privateers and pirates would be lost unless we
should take some measure of self-vindication ; and added that
our Constitution was lamentably defective if Congress had no
power to authorize such a measure.
I had no doubt of the power, nor of the expediency, and
thought that some spirited measure would be entirely con-
genial to the general attitude which we had recently assumed.
Mr. Southard was not decisive, and the President postponed
his determination. He rather inclined against any measure
himself, from an apprehension of offending England.
1 2th. Captain O'Brien came, and talked much upon his
own affairs and upon general politics. He gave me a copy of
the printed circular from thirteen members of the House of
Representatives and one Senator from Pennsylvania, assigning
their reasons for declining to attend a partial Congressional
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232 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January.
caucus. This is apparently maturing into a great party ques-
tion. The Legislatures of New York and Virginia have de-
clared in favor of a caucus nomination; Tennessee, South
Carolina. Alabama, and Maryland against one. The move-
ment of Pennsylvania is even now not absolute and decisive;
it declares only against a partial caucus ; but it has the aspect
of an effort in Pennsylvania to take the lead of the affairs of
the Union out of the hands of Virginia. There is yet room
for much development of policy between those States.
Mr. Fuller called also at the office, and mentioned to me that
Mr. Mallary, of Vermont, would call at my house this evening
— which he did. He had much conversation with me upon the
prospects of the Presidential election, and upon his own views,
past and present. He mentioned also the dispositions of many
other members of Congress, and, among the rest, told me that
Mr. Bradley, one of his colleagues, was a partisan of Mr. Craw-
ford's. Bradley himself most distinctly and explicitly professes
otherwise. Which is right ?
13th. General S. Smith and Mr. James Lloyd, of the Senate,
came to recomnriend that a Mr. Boothroyd should be ap-
pointed as Agent for certain claims upon the Government of
Hayti, and furnished with a letter to Boyer, giving him his
title of President. I mentioned to them all the difficulties in
the way of this arrangement. They had mentioned the affair
this morning to the President, and I spoke to him of it after-
wards. He said he would refer it to a Cabinet meeting.
14th. Mr. G. Sullivan called upon me twice this morning,
having in the interval been at the President's. He told me
that Mr. Calhoun last evening very peremptorily declared to
him that the whole of the Massachusetts claim must go be-
fore Congress, and expressed himself inflexibly concerning it.
There has been, Sullivan says, a total change in Calhoun's
views on this subject since November, the motive for which
lies not very deep. Calhoun is tampering with the Massa-
chusetts federalists for his electioneering purposes, and has
discovered that by paying that portion of the Massachusetts
claim which he acknowledges to be unquestionably due, and
not involving the Constitutional question, he would confirm the
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ascendency of the present administration of Massachusetts,
by which the re-election of Governor Eustis would be secured.
Calhoun has a personal grudge against Eustis, and despairs
of success for his canvass in the event of his re-election.
I told Sullivan that during this Administration certainly no
part of the claim would be paid without going to Congress for
an appropriation.
There was a Cabinet meeting at the President's, Mr. Calhoun
and Mr. Southard being present. The question was upon the
proposition to make Mr. Boothroyd the Agent for claims on
the Government of Hayti, and to furnish him with a letter to
Boyer, giving him his title as President of the island. There
was some discussion, but no diversity of opinion manifested, on
this question. It was observed that it would be only a mode
of recognizing the free government of colored people in Hayti,
or at least would be so understood by Boyer; and it was con-
cluded to be not advisable either to recognize them for the
present or at any time in that manner.
The President suggested that Boothroyd might have a pas-
sage in one of our public ships, and the captain might land
with him, and introduce him to Boyer. But this would prob-
ably not be desired by the claimants themselves. I was at last
authorized to give Boothroyd a letter like that which was
furnished to W. D. Robinson.
17th. Mr. Fuller, of the House, called this morning; after-
wards at the office, and in the evening again at my house.
He had a proposed amendment of Mr. Webster's resolution to
appropriate money for sending a Commissioner to Greece, the
discussion of which is to commence on Monday next. The
amendment would leave the appointment of the Commissioner
entirely at the discretion of the Executive. I told Fuller that
it was quite immaterial what the modification of the resolution
might be, the objection to it, under whatever form it might
assume, would be the same. It was the intermeddling of the
Legislature with the duties of the Executive. It was the adop-
tion of Clay's South American system, seizing upon the
popular feeling of the moment to perplex and embarrass the
Administration.
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234 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
Fuller also told me of his conversations with D. P. Cook
concerning N. Edwards's disappointment, and the President's
reasons for not sending him to Mexico ; and of his talk with
Gales, who has been sounding him to know if I would accept
of the Vice-Presidency under a nomination with Crawford as
President. I told Fuller that I knew something of these mines
and counter-mines of Crawford and Calhoun for the Presi-
dency ; they were disclosing themselves from day to day more
and more, and there was yet much to be discovered. I told
him how I had been treated by N. Edwards, and that I had
nevertheless urged on the President his appointment to Mexico
as strongly as with any propriety I could; that as to Mr.
Webster's course I should reserve my opinion upon its motives
for more conclusive evidence. Hitherto it was equivocal and
somewhat suspicious.
1 8th. I should have mentioned that at the President's yester-
day Mr. Southard read a draft of a report to the President of a
plan for a naval peace establishment, upon which I made some
remarks. Southard also sounded me as to my disposition with
regard to George M. Dallas, whom eleven members of the Penn-
sylvania delegation have recommended for the appointment of
Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico. I told him that Dallas was
not yet of the standing from which Ministers of that rank should
be taken. The President yesterday intimated to me that one of
the reasons in favor of Dallas was the poverty of his mother.
20th. Dr. Watkins told me that William King had assured
him that my friends had agreed that I should be nominated in
caucus as Vice-President, with a nomination of Crawford as
President. I applied an epithet- to King for saying this, which
I will not commit to paper — adding that it was impossible
any friends of mine should have undertaken thus to dispose of
me without consulting me upon it.
Watkins afterwards said King had told him Fuller had given
several indications that this was the disposition of my friends ;
that some opinions I had lately expressed about the office of
the President had been construed into such a disposition in
myself; and that in three or four days a formal proposition to
that effect would be made to me. This is the first unequivocal
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signal of distress from the Crawford flag that I have seen — and,
in my behef, a fraudulent one, too. But let further develop-
ments come.
23d. The morning was interrupted by no visitors, an incident
now of rare occurrence, and at the office I had only a call from
Mr. Crowninshield, who read me a letter that he had received
from General Dearborn, of Boston. I received a printed copy
of a handbill from Portland, Maine, containing a nomination
by the members of the Legislature of that State for the Presi-
dency. Mr. Crowninshield told me that William King, at my
house last Tuesday evening, warmly urged to him that my
friends ought to go into caucus with those of Mr. Crawford to
vote for him as President and me as Vice-President, upon the
principle* that it is impossible I should be elected as President,
and that, the first place being unattainable, it will be the part
of wisdom to secure the second. Crowninshield said he gave
King no encouragement to expect the acquiescence of my
friends in this arrangement, and he agreed with me that it
ought not to be accepted.
24th. Colonel R. M. Johnson was here to recommend Mr.
Luckett, and also a change of the District Attorney, Steele, at
Pensacola, and a third Commissioner of Land Titles — also to
talk about the caucus. The friends of Mr. Crawford are de-
termined to hold one; but they now propose to make the
invitation a general one, including Federalists as well as Re-
publicans. James Barbour, the Senator from Virginia, is the
warmest champion for a caucus nomination, and told Johnson
that if nobody would join him, he — ** I by myself, I" — would
make a caucus nomination alone. But, Johnson said, there
was a question whether the anti-caucus men should attend and
vote it inexpedient, or absent themselves altogether from the
meeting. There was a meeting last evening convoked by
Mr. Ingham, chiefly of Mr. Calhoun's friends, as the incipient
measure of an anti-caucus organization. Johnson would have
told me more, but we were interrupted.
25th. I visited Vice-President Tompkins, who arrived in the
city and took the chair of the Senate last Tuesday. He told
me that he had recovered his health, with the exception of
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236 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCV ADAMS. [January.
sleepless nights, and that he was relieved from all his embar-
rassments; that he had no intention of being a candidate
either for election to the Presidency or for re-election as Vice-
President. All he wanted was justice. He could speak with a
voice of thunder io the Legislature of New York; but he had
determined to take no part in the approaching election, and
wished for nothing hereafter but quiet and retirement.
I next called upon John W. Taylor, and had with him a con-
versation of nearly three hours. He and Mr. Livermore had
called at my house last evening. The Presidential canvassing
proceeds with increasing heat. The prospects in the Legisla-
ture of New York are at present highly favorable to Mr. Craw-
ford and his party ; and the prospect that he will obtain the
whole electoral vote of that State has suggested to the friends
of the other candidates here the necessity of concert among
them in opposing him, and the first measure upon which this
concert was sought was in the opposition to a Congressional
caucus nomination. At the beginning of the last week, Mr.
Ingham and Mr. Rogers, Calhoun's Pennsylvania friends, sought
meetings with other members, and last Wednesday Mn Clay
observed to Taylor that while there was persevering concert in
the movements of Mr. Crawford's friends, if there should be
none among his opponents, he would infallibly succeed against
them all. There was, therefore, a second meeting on Friday
evening, where they agreed to hold another to-morrow even-
ing at a public house opposite to the Unitarian church. Their
first object is to ascertain individually the intention of every
member for or against a caucus nomination. On the other
hand, Cambreleng, a warm Crawford man, told Taylor yester-
day that the caucus would be held, but not until April ; that in
the mean time there will be manifestations of public sentiment
ascertaining beyond all doubt that there will be a majority of
the electoral votes for Mr. Crawford — upon which his friends
here will secure the co-operation of Mr. Clay's friends or of
mine, by offering him and me alternately the Vice-Presidency,
with the promise that, by acceding to this arrangement now,
the service to the party would lay up a fund of merit for pro-
motion at a future election. And with reference to measures,
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Cambreleng said it was understood there was a greater coin-
cidence between the opinions of Mr. Crawford and mine than
between those of any two other candidates.
I said I believed that was true. But I asked Taylor what he
thought of Mr. Cambreleng's project with reference to political
morality.
Taylor said that when he had mentioned it to Livermore
they had both agreed it was a proposition which supposed the
man to whom it should be made a fool.
I told Taylor I had been very sure that Crawford's friends
were at this game of playing off Clay and me against each
other, but I should not have expected Cambreleng would
have had the simplicity to disclose it.
Taylor said he had been much surprised at hearing it from
Cambreleng.
I told Taylor that my mind was made up. I was satisfied
there was at this time a majority of the whole people of the
United States, and a majority of the States, utterly averse to
a nomination by Congressional caucus, thinking it adverse to
the spirit of the Constitution, and tending to corruption. I
thought it so myself; and therefore would not now accept a
Congressional caucus nomination, even for the Presidency.
And of course a nomination for the Vice-Presidency, in co-
operation with one for Mr. Crawford as President, could have
no charms for me. Not that I despised the Vice-Presidency,
or wished peevishly to reject the second place because I could
not obtain the first; but because the people disapproved of this
mode of nomination, and I disapproved of it myself. I added
that in opposition to such nomination I wished my friends to
take any measures in concert with others opposed to it as
might be proper. In effecting this concert, I wished them to
dispose of me as they should think best for the public service.
I was entirely prepared to consider the election by the people
of another person to the Presidency as an indication of their
will that I should retire to private life.
Taylor said he thought my determination perfectly correct
as to the Vice-Presidency ; but that I should reconsider that
of retiring to private life ; that the mere failure of an election
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238 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January.
to the Presidency could not be considered as indicative of the
will of the people that I should retire from the place that I
now hold. A multitude of causes and of motives contributed
to the issue of a Presidential election — sectional feelings, party
prejudices, political management, and many others. I might
still without dishonor retain my place under another Adminis-
tration.
I said his observation was undoubtedly true in the abstract,
and, as his dinner-bell was ringing, I would take another op-
portunity to explain to him my views on the subject — and in
the mean time would come to no rash decision concerning it.
26th. Mr. Dodge brought me a handbill of a Presidential
nomination for Rhode Island, at Providence — twenty-seven
towns out of thirty-one. This was unexpected to me, and,
though to the immediate object of little importance, as an in-
dication of general opinion there, calls for my most grateful
sentiments.
27th. Mr. George Tucker called this morning to consult me
with respect to the report he is to make as Chairman of the
Committee of the House of Representatives on the Beaumar-
chais claim. He said he thought the strict justice of the claim
doubtful, but that for the pride and honor of the country it
ought to be paid. A majority of the committee were disposed
to report favorably, but it was nearly certain the claim would
be rejected in the House. He was, therefore, disposed to report
that it should be referred to the Executive for negotiation with
the French Government ; and he wished to know whether any
proposal to that effect had been made on the part of France.
Mr. Gallatin told me yesterday that there had been, verbally
to him, by the Duke of Richelieu. I concurred with Tucker,
that the claim ought to be paid, as a repayment of so much
of donation from the French Government; though as to the
million itself, I did not believe the value of it had ever been
received by us.
I attended the meeting of the Commissioners of the Sinking
Fund, at the Capitol. Vice-President Tompkins, the Attorney-
General, Wirt, and myself were the only members present, Mr.
Crawford being confined to his house with an inflammation of
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his eyes. Mr. Nourse, the Register of the Treasury, attended
for Mr. Jones, the Secretary of the Board. A resolution was
prepared authorizing the purchase of seven per cent, stock,
according to an Act of Congress passed the 22d of this month,
and we signed it. The annual meeting of the Board is to be
next week, on Wednesday. Our business now was imme-
diately finished, and I went successively into the Senate and
House of Representatives. I conversed with many of the
members of both Houses. Mr. R. King mentioned again to
me that upon which he had begun to speak at the President's
drawing-room when we were interrupted — the rumor of a
coalition between Mr. Crawford and me and our mutual
friends to concur in a Congressional caucus nomination of
him as President and of me as Vice-President — a rumor which,
he said, was circulating both here and at New York. -
I told him that such overtures had been made to me and
I had rejected them, and I gave him my reasons; the same
as I had assigned them to J. W. Taylor on Sunday.
Mr. King said the course that I had taken was such as he
should have expected from me, and, he thought, the only one
worthy of me. He said he had had some conversation with
Mr. Clay, from which he had learnt that Clay was for going to
the caucus ostensibly for the purpose of voting it down, but to
take his chance of the nomination if there should be a majority
for it. He said his opinion was that Clay wanted to get into
some public situation out of his own State, feeling his ground
there to be shaking under him, and that he will push here for
anything that he can get.
King is much dissatisfied with the indications from the State
of New York, and, I think, does not yet see them in all their
bearings. I spoke to Mr. Baylies of the resolution (Dr. Floyd's)
calling for estimates of the expense of sending two hundred
men from the Council Bluffs to the mouth of Columbia River ;
said I was at the President's yesterday when the resolution was
brought to him, and hoped the measure would be adopted;
that I had urged the President to recommend it in the session
message ; and had again pressed him upon it yesterday, on oc-
casion of receiving a letter from Mr. Hogan, the Consul at Val-
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240 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
paraiso, mentioning that an American vessel had met a British
one carrying supph'es to the British establishment at Astoria.
I had also a long conversation and some explanations with
Mr. Webster upon his Greek resolution, which was left un-
disposed of yesterday by the committee of the whole rising
without taking any question upon it.
I told Webster that when his resolution should have been
finally acted upon I should be glad to converse with him. He
expressed a disposition to have the conversation now, and I
told him the- reasons why I had been averse to his resolution.
He said he had spoken to Southard at Sullivan's of his resolu-
tion before he offered it ; that Southard and Calhoun had both
encouraged him to offer it, and the President himself had told
him he had no objection to its being made.
I spoke this morning to Mr. Bartlett, of New Hampshire,
about his quarrel in the House with Clay, with the result of
which he seemed dissatisfied. I understood, however, upon
enquiry, though not from him, that it was not intended it
should go any further.
28th. Colonel Richard M. Johnson came this morning to
urge with great earnestness the appointment of Craven P.
Luckett as a Commissioner of Land Titles in West Florida, and
the removal of Steele as District Attorney there. He gave me
a bundle of letters against Steele. But the Colonel had other
objects of conversation. He is the particular friend of Mr.
Clay as to the Presidential election, and secondarily a common
friend of General Jackson, Mr. Calhoun, and myself He has
taken a strenuous part in opposition to the project of a Con-
gressional caucus nomination, and is warmly engaged in the
endeavor to harmonize the operations of the other candidates
and their friends. The caucus is the forlorn-hope of Mr. Craw-
ford. His friends have hitherto been confident that in a general
meeting of the Republican members they would outnumber the
votes of any one competitor, and thus obtain a final majority
in his favor. The other candidates and their friends are averse
to a caucus, on various grounds, and Colonel Johnson has
labored much to unite them in opposition to the measure. He
urges also the extension of this conciliatory concert to the
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formation of an Administration. I told him that I would cor-
dially contribute to this object to the utmost of my power;
that to this end I had authorized my friends in the pursuit of
it, if they should think it expedient, to set me altogether aside,
and to concur in any arrangement necessary for the union of
the Republican party and the public interest. I reserved to
myself only the discretion of retiring from the public service
in the event of the election of any other candidate.
Johnson approved altogether of this course, and spoke of
Clay as being much exasperated against the friends of Mr.
Crawford. They have offered him the Vice-Presidency, as they
have to me, but they think he has not been quick enough to
fall into their views, and some incidents have occurred tending
to more than alienation between them and him. Johnson men-
tioned particularly the sharp altercation a few days since in the
House, as an occurrence which had very much exasperated
Clay. He spoke also of the quarrel between Bartlett and Clay,
which I told him their friends ought to make up between them
— which was just the easiest thing in the world, both of them
having been intemperate in their expressions, and both having
something to apologize for. He said it was very true ; that
Clay was the most imprudent man in the world, and had been
altogether wrong in daring the members of the House opposed
to his opinions on the Greek question to go home and meet
their constituents.
29th. Daniel P. Cook had been here in the morning. Sey-
mour and Cook spoke much upon the course of politics and
the fermentation of the Presidential leaven at this time. Cook
is agonizing for the appointment of his father-in-law, Edwards,
for the mission to Mexico; while Ingham and Rogers, of the
Pennsylvania delegation, have started George M. Dallas as a
competitor to supplant him. Cook says Rogers told him that
if the President did not nominate Dallas he (Rogers) would
never set his foot into the President's house again.
30th. Colonel R. M. Johnson, Mr. R. King, and Mr. Fuller
had long conversations with me concerning the movements
of the parties here for the Presidential succession. Johnson
says that Calhoun proposed to him an arrangement by which
VOL. VI. — 16
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242 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
I should be supported as President, General Jackson as Vice-
President, Clay to be Secretary of State, and he himself Secre-
tary of the Treasury ; not as a bargain or coalition, but by the
common understanding of our mutual friends.
I made no remark upon this, but it discloses the forlorn-hope
of Calhoun, which is to secure a step of advancement to him-
self, and the total exclusion of Crawford, even from his present
office at the head of the Treasury.
Johnson said that Governor Barbour, Senator from Virginia,
after a conversation with him, in which he had insisted, and
Barbour had agreed, that upon an election in the House, should
it come there, the vote would be at least two thirds for me
against Crawford, said he had thoughts of giving in his ad-
hesion to me, which Johnson advised him by all means to do.
Mr. King spoke of the state of affairs in New York. His
own views are in some respect biassed by his situation. He
has been heretofore himself a candidate for the Presidency.
He had at one time during the present Administration hopes
of being the next in succession. There is a spice of disap-
pointment in all his opinions, and his grounds of preference
now are too much sectional. There is something peculiar in
the state of his mind, for it is transparent in his conduct and
discourse that although strenuous for the Northern man, he
would, in the event of his failure, not be without consolation.
King is one of the wisest and best men among us. But his
own ambition was inflamed by splendid success in early life,
followed by vicissitudes of popular favor and hopes deferred,
till he has arrived nearly at the close of his public career. He
has one session of Congress to sit in Senate, but talks even
now of resigning.
Fuller mentioned the meetings which have been held, and
are holding, to ascertain the number of the members of Con-
gress who deem it inexpedient at this time to make a caucus
nomination for the next Presidency.
31st. Mr. Ingham, a member of the House of Representa-
tives from Pennsylvania, called upon me this morning. He is
the principal leading member of the Republican part of the
Pennsylvania delegation. He and Thomas J. Rogers, two years
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ago, got Up Mr. Calhoun as a candidate for the Presidency.
They were the movefs of the recent circular signed by thirteen
members of the House and one Senator from that State, de-
claring their determination not to attend a partial meeting of
members of Congress to nominate candidates for the offices
of President and Vice-President ; and they started the recom-
mendation of George M. Dallas to the President for nomina-
tion as Minister to Mexico. Mr. Ingham, having understood
that I had objected to this nomination, requested to see me,
to converse with me concerning it, and also concerning the
course of conduct which the friends of Mr. Calhoun have for
the last two years observed towards me. We had not time to
go through the whole subject, as I was obliged to attend the
funeral of Mrs. De Bresson, as a pall-holder, at eleven o'clock ;
and Ingham is to call and see me again. He said that the
recommendation of Mr. Dallas had arisen from a previous one
of H. Baldwin, which had given dissatisfaction to the Repub-
licans of Pennsylvania, and the President had promised to
appoint a Pennsylvanian if the delegation could agree in the
recommendation ; that they had not at first been earnest in the
recommendation, but, since it was made, an attack upon Dallas
had been concerted by Binns, an infamous man, with others
in Philadelphia, and aided by Mr. Lowrie, the Senator at this
place; who were also endeavoring to overthrow the Republican
members here who had signed the circular. It was, therefore,
in Mr. Ingham's view, infinitely important to their retaining the
Republican ascendency in Pennsylvania that their recommenda-
tion of Mr. Dallas should prevail, and that he should receive
the appointment.
I told Mr. Ingham that the stand made by the Pennsylvania
members, in which they had already been sustained by their
Legislature, had placed Pennsylvania substantially at the head
of the Union. It exhibited her as the protectress of the rights
of the people and of all the smaller States against the immi-
nent combination of New York and Virginia. My objections to
the appointment of Mr. Dallas had been that he was not yet of
the age and political standing suitable for that appointment,
and could not be appointed to it without injustice to many
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244 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [Februan-,
others; that as to its bearing on the Presidential election, I
must be indifferent between Mr. Edward#and Mr. Dallas, both
of whom are avowed partisans of Mr. Calhoun.
February 3d. Colonel R. M. Johnson here. He is very earn-
estly engaged in counteracting the caucus party, and very
anxious for the appointment of Luckett. The anti-caucus
meetings have not yet resulted in the agreement to publish a
declaration against it. W. Plumer told me that some of the
New Hampshire members were averse to signing the anti-
caucus declaration, thinking that Mr. Crawford's name might
probably be withdrawn before the close of this session of Con-
gress; in which case they expected the nomination would be
of me, and they would then have no objection to going into
caucus.
I told him the objection was to the thing, and not to the
person. The sentiment of the nation was against a nomina-
tion by members of Congress. I thought that sentiment well
founded, and should feel myself bound to decline such a nomi-
nation, either for the Presidency or the Vice-Presidency.
4th. S. D. Ingham called again, and I had a full and explicit
conversation with him respecting G. M. Dallas, and generally
respecting the treatment of me by Mr. Calhoun and his friends;
the professions of friendship and the acts of insidious hostility;
the requisitions upon me to dismiss the Democratic Press and
appoint the Franklin Gazette to publish the laws in Philadel-
phia ; the vindictive malice of Binns, which they thereby excited
against me; the flaunting declaration in the Franklin Gazette
immediately afterwards, that they were under no obligation to
me for the appointment ; the decided part taken against me by
that paper in the controversy with Jonathan Russell, and its
frequent ill-disguised attacks upon me since ; the courtship of
the New England federalists for Mr. Calhoun ; the toast to the
memory of Fisher Ames, at the Edgefield dinner to McDuffie;
the newspapers set up in Massachusetts to support Mr. Calhoun;
the smuggled paragraphs, asserting that my friends in New
England had abandoned me for him; and the panegyric of the
Washington Republican upon the Boston Galaxy, a paper for
years advertised for sale to the highest bidder of the Presi-
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dential candidates, and which has at last opened a battery of
scurrilous abuse upon me, and in avowed support of Mr. Cal-
houn. I mentioned all these things to him in frankness, but
told him they had not the slightest effect upon my opinion
with regard to the appointment of Mr. Dallas.
He wished to apologize for Norvell, the editor of the Franklin
Gazette, who, he said, entertained the highest respect for me,
and whose appointment had been urged not from any hostility
to me. The papers published against me in the controversy
with Russell he (Ingham) had disapproved, and had written to
Norvell to refuse them ; but it happened that before receiving
his letter Norvell had promised to publish the first, and then
could not reject the others. The main foundation of the oppo-
sition of the Franklin Gazette, and of the Republicans in Penn-
sylvania, to me, was owing to their seeing that I was supported
by Walsh.
I told him that Mr. Walsh's support of me had not been
solicited by me. It was voluntary and spontaneous, and had
been by no means uniform. In the Russell controversy he
had been at first against me, and upon other occasions had
not been sparing of censure upon me. The friends of Mr.
Calhoun had no doubt the right to set him up as a candidate
for the Presidency, and if they chose to promote as the head
of an Administration a man whose elevation must of itself
operate as a proscription from the Executive of the nation of
all the other men who were distinguished before the nation,
they surely might; but the error seemed to be in supposing
that this might be done without any manifestations of enmity
towards them. My complaint was, not that attempts were
made to tear my reputation to pieces for the benefit of Mr.
Calhoun, but that they were preceded and accompanied by
professions of great respect and esteem, and with the expres-
sion of most earnest desires for harmony and good under-
standing.
He said that it had not been considered that mere age was
the decisive qualification for the Presidency.
I said, certainly not. But ours was practically more a Gov-
ernment of personal consideration and influence than of written
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246 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [February,
articles. There was in the genius of our institutions a gradu-
ated subordination among the persons by whom the Govern-
ment was administered. Reputation was the basis of our
elections, and the emblem of its organization was a pyramid,
at the point of which was the chief, under whom men of high
consideration, though not equal to his, naturally found their
places. Among the sources of this consideration, age and
experience had their share, and, unless superseded by very
transcendent merit, a decisive share. This had never yet been
otherwise under our present Constitution. Not a single in-
stance had occurred of a person older than the President of the
United States accepting office as a head of Department under
him. This was not the result of any written law, but it arose
from the natural operation of our system. What the effect of
such a departure from it as the election of Mr. Calhoun might
be, I could not undertake to say. But this I would say, and
had said to those of my friends who had spoken to me on the
subject: that if the harmony of the country could be pro-
moted by setting me altogether aside, I would cheerfully
acquiesce in that disposition, and never would be the occasion
or the supporter of factious opposition to any Administration
whatsoever.
Mr. Ingham professed to be satisfied with this exposition of
my views and feelings ; but, as I gave him no reason to expect
I could be reconciled to the appointment of Dallas to Mexico,
he was doubtless not satisfied with the result of the meeting.
I attended in the evening the drawing-room at the Presi-
dent's. On returning home, I found J. W. Taylor at my house,
and had a long conversation with him. He told me that Jesse
B. Thomas, a Senator from Illinois, had strongly urged upon
him the expediency of my acquiescing in the nomination as
Vice-President, with Mr. Crawford for the Presidency. He said
that Mr. Crawford would certainly be elected, and he spoke of
certain members of Congress as ultimately to vote for him who
appear to be far otherwise disposed at this time ; that it was,
however, very desirable that he should carry with him the
strength which he would derive from the co-operation of my
friends; that from the state of Mr. Crawford's health it was
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highly probable the duties of the Presidency would devolve
upon the Vice-President, which had made it necessary to select
with peculiar anxiety a person qualified for the contingency
which was to be anticipated ; that a compliance with the views
of Mr. Crawford's friends on this occasion would be rendering
them a service which would recommend me to their future
favor, and would doubtless secure my election hereafter to the
Presidency. Taylor said he had answered that admitting even
the certainty that Mr. Crawford should be elected, that was no
sufficient reason for the acquiescence of my friends in the pro-
posed arrangement. If the election should be carried against
them, they will at least have followed their own sense of what
was right and fit. They could not place me in subordination
to Mr. Crawford without inverting the natural order of things
and placing the North in a position of inferiority to the South.
Should they be so placed by the Constitutional voice of the
people, they must undoubtedly submit; but they could not
consent to be so placed by their own act. Taylor said Thomas
had asked him to see him again after thinking on the subject.
I said he might tell him then, if he thought fit, that he had
seen me, and I had told him that I was so satisfied of the in-
expediency of a Congressional caucus nomination at this time
that I should decline accepting it, were it even for the Presi-
dency. He said he thought it would be better that, without
referring to me or to my determination, he should simply state
the perseverance of my friends in the sentiments he had already
expressed as being theirs.
5th. Mr. Bailey called. He says that Mr. Sloane, the Chair-
man of the Committee of Elections, told him he thought the
committee would report against him ; ' and gave him a paper
containing the reasons upon which they had come to that con-
clusion. He showed me the paper, and the reasons assigned
appeared to me so weak that I could not exclude suspicions
from my mind of other motives. Bailey said there were two
» Mr. John Bailey, of Massachusetts, whilst a Clerk in the State Department,
and residing at Washington, had been elected to the House of Representatives in
a district of that State. A remonstrance had been presented, based upon the
question of his citizenship.
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248 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
of the committee, as he supposed, decidedly in his favor, two
decidedly against him, two wavering, and one, Mr. Ball, had
not attended the meetings. He doubted whether to answer
the reasoning of the committee, or to let them go with it to
the House and answer it there. I thought he had better
answer it both to themselves and to the House.
At the office, Mr. Bradley, of Vermont, called, and told me
he had information from an undoubted source that there was a
coalition between Clay and Calhoun. How far the friends of
Jackson had entered into it he did not know, but the project
for the Harrisburg Convention, on the 4th of March, was to
make up a ticket which would ultimately decide for Jackson,
Clay, or Calhoun, according to circumstances, but excluding
Crawford and me. Mallary told m^ that Bradley was for
Crawford, and Bradley says Mallary was so.
March 6th. I called at the President's. Found Mr. Calhoun
with him, urging the appointment of B. T. Watts as Secretary
of Legation to Colombia ; he soon withdrew. I spoke of the
nominations. The President inclines to the suppression of the
Fourth Auditor's office. He thinks one Auditor for each
Department sufficient. Spoke of twenty members of the Penn-
sylvania delegation recommending Mr. Findley, the Senator.
He told them that if nominated he would be opposed in Senate,
on thq principle that appointments of Senators to subaltern Ex-
ecutive offices degraded the body itself The President said
Mr. R. King had declared this to be his opinion and intention.
The President showed me Lowrie's letter to him informing
him that he had received under a blank cover from Richmond
the copy of the President's answer to General Jackson's letter to
him, recommending to him to form his Administration of the
two parties. Lowric says in his letter he had not determined
what to do. The President said, as this was a menacing attitude,
he had not answered Lowrie's letter. Mr. Baldwin afterwards
had called upon him, as a friend of Lowrie's, and asked him if
the affair could not be accommodated, to which he had answered
there was nothing to accommodate. The President spoke also
of the proposed reduction of the diplomatic appropriations,
upon a resolution offered by Forsyth, and a new letter to me
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from McLane, Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means.
The President was for sustaining all the Diplomatic missions,
as now authorized. I thought otherwise ; but am to prepare
and submit to him a draft of an answer to McLane's letter.
He showed me also a letter from Dr. Floyd, the Chairman
of the Columbia River settlement, to the Secretary of War,
asking for the views of the Executive on that subject in a mili-
tary point of view, and as to the control of the Indians. He
said this was going beyond the line of the Secretary of War's
duties. He thought, therefore, of sending a message recom-
mending the establishment of a military post on the borders of
the Pacific, and renewing the proposition for the Yellowstone
River projected post, which he said he had recommended, as
Secretary of War, immediately after the Peace of 1815, which
Floyd and Cocke, with the help of Mr. Clay, had broken up;
in consequence of which we had suffered Indian hostilities.
These men now saw their own wrong, and were moving round
and round to get themselves out of the position in which they
had placed themselves. He read me an extract from his report
of 181 5, and said he had been much censured for assuming the
responsibility of directing advances of money for the Yellow-
stone expedition ; but he read to me an address which he had
received at Lexington in July, 18 19, most earnestly recom-
mending the undertaking, and signed by Isaac Shelby, General
Jackson. Mr. Barry, of Kentucky, and several others of the first
respectability.
I told him that I thought the exposition of his views in the
proposed message would be entirely proper, but suggested the
doubt whether, connected with the enquiries of Dr. Floyd to
Mr. Calhoun, they might not be represented as having a bear-
ing to defeat the establishment of the post on the Pacific.
Mrs. Hay gave a party this evening at the President's house,
to which the foreign Ministers were invited — a new movement,
which causes speculation.
7th. The nomination of N. Edwards as Minister to Mexico
was confirmed in the Senate last Thursday. The threatened
opposition was not made, and he says there were not more
than four or six votes against his appointment. He read me
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[March,
several letters: one from Ogden Edwards, at New York, just
received by Alfred, confident that the vote of New York can-
not be for Crawford, and that the Electoral bill will pass. I
think the indications strongly otherwise. One from a General
White, in Illinois, who says D. P. Cook wastes ammunition upon
him. Edwards will resign his seat in the Senate to-morrow,
and will wait for his instructions to go to Mexico.
8th. Dr. Thornton came in this morning, and spoke of his
memorial to Congress for an increase of his salary. The Doc-
tor mentioned also the result of the Convention last Thursday
at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which was the nomination of An-
drew Jackson, by one hundred and twenty-four votes out of one
hundred and twenty-five, for election as President of the United
States, and John C. Calhoun, by eighty-eight, as Vice-President
Mr. McLean, the Postmaster-General, came to recommend
a son of Judge Burnet, of Ohio, for appointment as Secretary
of Legation to R. C. Anderson, Minister to the republic of
Colombia. I desired him to send a recommendation in writing,
with recommendations. McLean spoke to me also of the Har-
risburg nomination, and of the dispositions of the members
of the present Legislature of Ohio. He said they had agreed
upon two electoral tickets, one for Clay and one for me. It
was impossible to say which would prevail, but he believed
Mr. Clay's prospects were waning. Clay's only hope now is
of taking all the deserters from Crawford in New York. Mc-
Lean thought Calhoun would be better suited to a more active
station than the Vice-Presidency.
9th. There was, at one o'clock, a Cabinet meeting at the
President's; Calhoun and Southard present. It was principally
to read the draft of a message to both Houses of Congress,
recommending the establishment of a military post high up
the Missouri River, and another on the Pacific Ocean, at the
mouth of the Columbia River or at the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
But it was a strong argument against making any territorial set-
tlement on the Pacific, with a decided expression of an opinion
that they would necessarily soon separate from this Union.
I suggested doubts of the expediency or necessity of com-
municating such an opinion.
i^
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Calhoun supported and enlarged upon my objections, and
Southard concurred with us. The voice against the message
was unanimous, and the President concluded not to send it.
Calhoun thought there would be no separation should we
make settlements on the Pacific Ocean, and I inclined to the
same opinion. He said the passion for aggrandizement was
the law paramount of man in society, and that there was no
example in history of the disruption of a nation from itself by
voluntary separation.
I contested this, and cited the case of the tribes of Israel.
He admitted this was an exception, but said it was the only
one. The position was not correct. The separation of Portugal
from Spain, and of Sweden from Denmark and Norway, might
have been mentioned ; but I did not press the discussion. We
agreed in the result. I thought a Government by federation
would be found practicable upon a territory as extensive as this
continent, and that the tendency of our popular sentiments was
increasingly towards union.
The President spoke also respecting the appointment of a
Fourth Auditor. Calhoun and Southard were against the abo-
lition of the office. The propriety of appointing a member of
Congress was discussed. I thought a member should not be
appointed. Calhoun and Southard thought a rule should be
established at the commencement of an Administration against
appointing members to subaltern offices ; but now to exclude
members would seem invidious.
The appointment of E. Bates as District Attorney in Mis-
souri was also mentioned. The President fears to nominate
him, Scott, the Representative, and Benton, the Senator, being
violent against him. The State is distracted with parties, and
there have been three or four fatal duels, arising from charges
of official malversation against a General Rector, of the Land
Office. Bates is one of Rector's accusers, and the President
seeks some person not engaged in these controversies. He
has talked with Governor McNair, of Missouri, now here, and
says there is a Mr. Geyer named to him as excellently well
qualified, and a no-party man.
I said there was another view of the subject deserving con-
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252 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS, [March,
sideration. Bates had openly denounced Rector for gross
official abuses. Rector, instead of making a solid defence, was
supported by the pistols of his friends. Was this a good ob-
jection to the appointment of Bates ? Calhoun and Southard
both supported my remarks, and the President said he believed
the charges against Rector were well founded. He has long
since been called upon for explanations, and must soon give
them or be dismissed. Calhoun said the propriety of appoint-
ing Bates would depend on the decision concerning Rector;
and so it was left.
Dined at Baron Tuyl's, with a company of about twenty.
Evening party and dance at Mr. Wirt's. Crowninshield said
some of Calhoun's friends were desirous that mine should vote
for him as Vice-President. I asked him if Calhoun himself
wished it. He did not know. I said that was first to be ascer-
tained; I thought he did not wish it; but that some of his
friends might wish mine to pledge themselves, by support-
ing him for the Vice-Presidency, to an exterminating hostility
against Crawford's interest. I did not think this would be
either just or expedient
loth. The Count de Menou, Charge d'Affaires from France,
came to speak of the publication of a notice that certificates of
origin would be required in France upon importations from the
United States to entitle them to the benefit of the Convention.
We conversed also upon general topics, and I spoke to him of
the newspaper accounts of a large squadron fitting out at Brest.
He said he had no doubt there was exaggeration in the ac-
counts ; that a squadron of three frigates in the Pacific had
returned to France, and were to be replaced ; that the garrisons
of the French islands in the West Indies were perhaps to be
relieved, and that the French Government might be disposed
to contribute its share to the suppression of piracy in those seas.
I told him I discredited altogether the suspicions abroad that
this squadron was destined to act against any part of South
America, particularly as I knew there had been explanations
upon the subject, which had passed between the British and
French Governments ; and as related to South America, I pre-
sumed that no interposition of France between them and Spain
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would take place without consulting the United States as well
as her European allies. This appeared to startle him a little,
and he said he did not see that France was bound to consult
the United States as to the time when she should recognize
the South American Governments. I said, by no means ; it
was not when she should recognize them, but whether she
should interfere between them and Spain, to which my obser-
vation applied. He did not pursue the subject further.
nth. Mr. Fuller called, and I had a long conversation with
him upon the Massachusetts claim, and upon a motion of John
Forsyth's for reducing the sum estimated in the Appropriation
bill, now before the House of Representatives, for the diplomatic
intercourse. He began with a general assault upon the whole
estimate, proposing a discontinuance of the Plenipotentiary mis-
sions in Spain and Portugal, as well as all those in South
America. But, failing in this, he has finished by proposing to
strike out the item of salary for a Minister to Lima. This may
be spared without inconvenience, and I do not regret the ap-
pearance of this disposition in the House.
Mr. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, came to ask for a letter
from Commodore Stewart which he had sent me, and which I
had just sent back to the Navy Department. Southard talked
with me largely upon election prospects, and was apparently
desirous of ascertaining my sentiments concerning Calhoun
and Jackson. I gave them to him without reserve. The Penn-
sylvania Convention at Harrisburg have nominated Jackson for
President, and Calhoun Vice-President. Southard thought the
Vice-Presidency was not the place for Calhoun, but yet seemed
inclined that he should be voted for to it. He asked who my
friends would vote for. I told him, probably Jackson. He
asked if that would not strengthen Jackson's chance of success
for the Presidency, I had no doubt it would. But what then ?
My friends would vote for him on correct principle — his fitness
for the place, the fitness of the place for him, and the peculiar
advantage of the geographical association. If by voting for
him as Vice-President my friends should induce others to vote
for him as President, they and I must abide by the issue. It
is, upon the whole, the best course to be taken, and, besides,
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254 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [March,
the impulse to that course in the popular feeling is given. It
is too late to withstand or to control it.
Southard said he had seen a member, of the Harrisburg
Convention, who had given him a very detailed account of
their proceedings; that the presence of H. Baldwin, though
not a member, and considered as a Crawfordite under a Jackson
mask, had occasioned much agitation; and that multitudes of
letters had been received from this place reporting a coalition
between Crawford and me. The person to whom Southard al-
luded, though he did not name him to me, was Mr. Mcllvaine,
a son of the Senator from New Jersey.
12th. Received a note from the President requesting the
attendance of Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Southard, and me at his
house at ten o'clock this morning. We met there accord-
ingly. The first subject of consultation was a letter from
McLane, Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, to
Mr. Crawford, enquiring whether, in consequence of the de-
cease of the Fourth Auditor, any appropriation for the salary
of that officer would be necessary, and how the appropria-
tions of the year would be affected by that event. Mr. Craw-
ford, who is yet unwell, though convalescent, had endorsed a
reference of this letter to the President, remarking that if the
office should be abolished, as the President had inclined to
the opinion that it might be, the appropriation for the salary
would be unnecessary.
Calhoun and Southard now thought that the office could not
be abolished without doubling the labors of the Third Audi-
tor, Peter Hagner, already overlabored. It was proposed to call
upon him to say whether he could do the additional duties of
the Fourth Auditor; but I suggested that to require of him a
formal report upon that question would be placing him in
a delicate and awkward position, which, considering him as
a most excellent officer, would be hardly dealing fairly with
him.
I proposed that Mr. Crawford should answer Mr. McLane's
letter by observing that the question upon the expediency of
abolishing the office would require time and deliberation to
decide ; and that in the mean time, if the appropriation should
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be made, it would remain unexpended in case the result of the
examination should be to abolish the office. It was determined
accordingly.
The next subject submitted for consideration by the Presi-
dent was more important. By a compact made between the
United States and the State of Georgia in 1802, the United
States stipulated to extinguish as soon as should be practicable,
peaceably and upon reasonable terms, the Indian titles to lands
within the State of Georgia. And since that time many treaties
have been made, and many millions of miles purchased, in ful-
filment of the article ; the State of Georgia continually press-
ing to obtain more. At last the Cherokees have come to the
determination that they will on no consideration part with any
more of their lands, and their delegation now here have most
explicitly so declared, in answer to a letter from the Secretary
of War strongly urging upon them the necessity of a further
cession. The answer of the Cherokees was communicated to
the Georgia delegation here, and they have addressed to the
President a letter of remarks upon the correspondence between
the Secretary of War and the Cherokees, which the President
said was an insult. It is in terms of the most acrimonious
reproach against the Government of the United States, whom
it charges almost in terms with fraud and hypocrisy, while it
broadly insinuates that the obstinacy of the Cherokees is in-
stigated by the Secretary of War himself. Calhoun remarked
that it was in the handwriting of Cobb, but it was signed by
the two Senators, Elliott and Ware, and by all the meipbers of
the House from the State, excepting Tatnall, who is not here.
The question was how it should be treated.
The conclusion was, that the President should send a message
to Congress, with the correspondence, and an exposition of
what has been done by the Government of the United States
in fulfilment of the compact. Calhoun thought that the mes-
sage should communicate, but take no notice of, the letter of
the Georgia delegation. I said, as the charges of the letter
could not be overlooked, it was scarcely possible to avoid a
direct allusion to it, and I thought it indispensable that it
should in substance be fully answered.
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256 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY AbAMS. [March,
The President said it should be answered, and in the tone of
defiance best suited to it.
Southard said Georgia would find very little support in Con-
gress to such a paper as that.
The President said he had never received such a paper.
I said it was an issue tendered between Georgia and the
Government of the United States.
Calhoun dwelt upon its incorrectness with regard to the facts ;
and I observed it was a peremptory demand to do by. force,
and upon most unreasonable terms, that which had been stipu-
lated only to be done peaceably, and upon reasonable terms.
It was asked what could have kindled this raging fever for
Indian lands.
Calhoun thought it was the State system of disposing of them
by lottery — a system which, he said, was immoral and corrupt,
instigating insatiable cupidity for lands, and alternately seized
by the conflicting parties as engines for the advancement of
one upon the ruin of the other.
I suspected this bursting forth of Georgia upon the Govern-
ment of the United States was ominous of other events. We
were kept till past three at the President's.
13th. Strong, of Albany, came, with the papers relating to
his petition to Congress, against which the committee have
reported. He had also much to say of a secret design which
he suspected Mr. Van Buren to entertain to bring in De Witt
Clmton as President. Mr. Bailey was here, still much out of
health, and with the report of the Committee of Elections
against him not taken up by the House.
At the office. Mr. R. King came with Mr. Wheaton, who is
a member of the New York Legislature, and will leave the city
next Tuesday to return to Albany. Wheaton wished to con-
verse with me concerning the Presidential election. His great
apprehension appeared to be the rumored coalition between
Crawford and myself
I told him what had passed in relation to this subject ; the
overtures from some of Mr. Crawford's friends, and the answers
given by me to them — with which he expressed himself fully
satisfied.
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I mentioned to him the letter that I had received from Mr.
Tallmadge, and told him the substance of my answer.
After he withdrew, I had further conversation with Mr.
King, concerning the commercial intercourse with the British
West India Colonies, the affair between the President and W.
Lowrie, the Senator from Pennsylvania, and the letter to the
President from the Georgia delegation ; upon all which I found
his opinions concurring with my own.
Mr. Addington, the British, and the Count de Menou, the
French Charge d* Affaires, successively came, apparently to
obtain information concerning the recent intelligence from
Europe. There are dispatches and letters from London to the
17th of February, a vessel having arrived in sixteen days from
Liverpool, at Boston. I spoke to Addington of a notice from
the British Vice-Consulate at Portland concerning an Act of
the Legislature of the island of Jamaica, published in the news-
papers, and told him I should write him a note to enquire if
it was authentic. He said he did not know. I observed that
we should have occasion to animadvert upon it in two points
of view : first, as an official act of a British Consulate in the
United States, relating to their commercial intercourse with
the island of Jamaica, while no Consul from the United States
was allowed to reside in that island ; and, secondly, as laying
our shipping and merchants trading there under additional
duties and burdens.
Addington spoke also to me again upon the affair of the
duties on rolled and hammered iron.
14th. In the evening, Mr. John \V. Taylor, the member from
the State of New York, called on me, and we were in conversa-
tion of interest, when Dr. Lovell came in to enquire if Mr. John
M. Forbes was at Buenos Ay res. Taylor mentioned to me the
postponement by the Senate of New York to the ist of No-
vember next, or, in other words, the rejection of the bill which
had passed the House of Assembly, for giving the choice of the
electors of President and Vice-President of the United States,
for that State, to the people. Taylor says that Van Buren
announces that the next step will be the confirmation by a
legislative caucus of the Congressional caucus nomination,
VOL. VI.— 17
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258 MEAfO/RS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [March,
but Taylor's own letters from Albany all say that there is not
a majority of the Legislature in favor of Crawford.
Van Buren's information is probably the most correct, and
I now set down the New York votes as nearly certain for
Crawford. The union of New York and Virginia will thus
be consummated under inauspicious omens : a minority caucus
in Congress, and an anti-popular legislative usurpation in the
State of New York. And," after all, it is insufficient to make
the final election of Crawford even probable.
15th. I called at the President's with the dispatches last
received from H. Nelson and from R. Rush. The President
told me that last Saturday Mr. Crawford had called at his
house ; that he had appeared to be much mortified at the letter
from the Georgia delegation, which the President had shown
him, and had expressed a wish that they might be induced to
withdraw it; that the President told him they might withdraw
it if they pleased, but it must be their own act, and not at his
desire. He gave me also to read a letter from the Governor of
Georgia to the Secretary at War upon the same subject, which,
he said, though in some respects exceptionable, was in a differ-
ent spirit from the delegation letter, and contained a refutation
of their insinuations of duplicity on the part of the General
Government.
I dined at General Jackson's, with a company of about twenty-
five — Heads of Departments, members of Congress, and officers
of the army and navy. Clay and Calhoun were there. It was
the General's birthday, and apparently the occasion upon which
he gave the dinner. Clay had been arguing in the Supreme
Court this morning the case of the Apollon against the Gov-
ernment, and had taken the opportunity of being, as he pro-
ery severe upon me. At the dinner he became warm,
It, and absurd upon the tariff", and persisted in discuss-
gainst two or three attempts of Eaton to change the
of the conversation. He is so ardent, dogmatical, and
ring that it is extremely difficult to preserve the temper
Jly society with him. I had some conversation with
ithard, who sat next me at table, on the Georgia dele-
etter, which he thought would not be taken back. I
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thought it would, at the intercession of Mr, Crawford ; and had
a suspicion that it was written and sent with that intention.
Southard said this was to him a new view of the subject.
16th. I called this morning on T. Newton, Chairman of the
Committee of Commerce. Mr. S. Breck, a member of the
House from Pennsylvania, offered a resolution founded upon
newspaper reports of proceedings in the British Parliament
relating to our commercial intercourse with the British West
India Colonies. Newton opposed the resolution, which was
of a reference to the Committee of Commerce, of which he is
Chairman.
I told him I wished him to let the resolution pass, and send
me a copy of it, asking for my observations upon it, as it would
give me an opportunity for making a communication to the
committee, and through them to Congress, which I was de-
sirous of doing. He said he would assent to the passage of
the resolution.
I received a message from the President to go to his house,
and, arriving there, I found General Jackson reading his answer
to an address which the President had read to him on present-
ing him the medal voted by a resolution of Congress of 27th
February, 1815, for the victory of 8th January at New Orleans.
Immediately afterwards the President read an address to
Judge Todd, as the representative, of Governor Isaac Shelby,
on delivering him a medal voted by resolution of Congress
of 4th April, 18 1 8, for his good conduct at the battle of the
Thames, on the Sth of October, 181 3. The Judge read an
answer to the President's address.
The whole ceremony was over in a quarter of an hour or
less, and there were not more than thirty persons present,
among whom were the ladies of the President's family.
Mr. Poinsett spoke to me of Breck's resolution, and I gave
him, as I had given to Mr. Newton, my reasons for wishing
that it might pass.
17th. Mr. George Sullivan came, and showed me a letter
which he proposed sending to his brother-in-law, Winthrop,
urging the publication of his late letter to Governor Eustis, by
a long argument, concerning which he asked my advice. I
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26o MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
asked the motive for writing it. He said, that it might be read
to Eustis. I said there were three points upon which the ex-
posure of W. King's designs would bear: I, on Sullivan's de-
fence against King's public denunciation ; 2, on the prospects
of the claim; 3, on the Presidential election. For the first, I
believed it necessary for Sullivan's full justification. As to the
second, I was altogether doubtful whether its operation upon
the claim would be favorable or adverse, and could not advise.
As to the third, I had no doubt the effect would be favorable to
me, but must set that consideration aside and distrust my own
judgment, lest it should be improperly biassed by my own
interest.
Sullivan thought the effect must be favorable to the claim,
by exasperating all Crawford's friends against it, and thereby
uniting the friends of all the other candidates in its support.
I said I believed Governor Eustis, for various reasons, would
be strenuously against the publication, and I advised Sullivan
to give full consideration to the arguments he would urge
against it. Sullivan said he intended to go into the House of
Representatives of Massachusetts this year, and thought he
should make a very good Speaker. And in the House he
would take care that full justice should be done to himself
I attended this evening, alone, the drawing-room at the Presi-
dent's. Less company than usual. Bad weather. Heard of
Mr. Wirt's reply this day before the Supreme Court to Clay's
attack upon the Administration and upon me, on Monday,
in the case of the Apollon. G. HayVas in raptures at the
scourging Clay received. Clay spoke of it to me himself, but
in a very humble tone compared to that of Monday. Clay •
said he had wanted a half an hour for reply. I said he should
have thought of that when he attacked me where he knew I
could not reply. He said Wirt had made my letter to De Neu-
ville a part of his argument. I told him he had fine scope for
assailing me where I was not present to defend myself, but in
this instance I had been gratified to learn that my defence had
fallen into better hands than my own.
19th. Colonel R. M. Johnson, of the Senate, was here, solicit-
ing a Consular appointment for Mr, Savage at Guayaquil. I
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advised him rather to think of the island of St. Bartholomew.
Johnson says Mr. Crawford's friends, particularly Governor Bar-
bour, are very sanguine of his election, and entirely sure of the
vote of New York. They consider all prospect of my being
supported as having vanished, and that all New England will
abandon me and vote for Crawford. I believe Mr. Crawford's
prospects and mine equally unpromising. Intrigue against the
voice of the people will probably give him New York. Vir-
ginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and Delaware will also prob-
ably be for him ; but no others ; and if New York fails him he
will decline and withdraw.' Whether all New England will
support me is yet problematical, and the rest is yet more un-
certain. The issue must be where it ought to be, and my duty
is cheerful acquiescence in the event.
A son of the late James A. Bayard came to the office, for two
objects : first, as an executor, jointly with L. McLane, of his
father's will, to claim a half outfit for the negotiation of the
Convention of July, 181 5, because Mr. Bayard was joined in
the commission for that negotiation, though he did not go to
London upon it. His accounts have been long since settled,
but he takes ground from the allowances to Mr. Clay and Mr.
Gallatin, and says Mr. Clay encourages him to make the claim,
and Mr. McLane considers it as a vested right.
I told him if he should make the claim I should refer it to
the President, who had made the allowance to Mr. Clay, after
taking the opinion of the Attorney-General, and against mine.
He thought he must make the claim. His second purpose
was, to solicit the appointment of Secretary of Legation to
France, in the event of D. Sheldon's return home this year,
which, he said, was expected.
I had no reason for such expectation, but promised to be-
friend him if Sheldon should return.
I received a note from the President, asking me to return
the letter from Governor Troup, of Georgia, to the Secretary of
War, which he had given me some days ago. I took the letter
over to the President's house, and, he being out, left it upon his
« New York did fail him, but he did not withdraw. The four States nieniioned
adhered to him even through the last struggle in the House of Representatives.
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262 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [March,
table. He came afterwards to the office, and spoke of the joint
letter from the Georgia delegation to him. He said that Mr.
Crawford, in pursuance of the desire expressed by himself that
they should withdraw the paper, had seen Mr. Elliott, the Sen-
ator, and he had consulted with the rest of the delegation, who
thereupon determined not to withdraw the paper, nor to hold
any consultation with Mr. Crawford concerning it.
Governor Barbour, of Virginia, told the President that the
paper was written by Forsyth, and copied by Cobb.
The President is deeply affected by it. He thinks it pro-
ceeds from Forsyth and Cobb's eagerness for popularity in
Georgia, stimulated by the passion of the people for lands
which are distributed among them by lottery, under the State
laws ; and by party ambition to outdo the Clarke faction in tlie
State.
He said there were three courses, either of which he might
pursue, with regard to the paper: one, to send it back to the
writers ; another, to keep it without answering it ; the third, to
send it to Congress. Of these, the last was the most advisable.
I suggested to him the expediency of referring the paper to
the Secretary of War for a report. In this, the errors both of
fact and of principle might be fully exposed, and then both
papers might be sent by message to Congress together. And
I reminded him that this was the course adopted when R. W.
Meade memorialized him against the second ratification of the
Florida Treaty.
He said he thought he would take this course.
20th. Mr. N. Edwards, the newly-appointed Minister to
Mexico, called this morning, and made enquiries of the manner
in which it will be most expedient for him to proceed upon
his mission. It is most advisable for him to proceed hence to
New Orleans, and there embark, to land within a few miles of
Vera Cruz. He also gave me an explanatory account of his
own conduct personally towards me for the last three years.
It was apologetic and excusatory. He had begun by volun-
teering as my friend, and then, by his own account, abandoned
me for Calhoun, because he thought there was no possible
chance in my favor, and because his great object, paramount to
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all others, was to put down Crawford. I told him with candor
all that had rested upon my mind in the variations of his dis-
positions and conduct towards me; assuring him that I re-
tained no sentiment of animosity for it.
He declared to me his conviction that it was the attack
of Jonathan Russell upon me and its consequences which had
brought me up as a candidate for tfle Presidency. But for
that, he is persuaded, I should have been out of the question.
He says also that the winter before that occurrence, when he
and Clay boarded at Mrs. P6yton*s, Clay intimated to him that
he intended to operate against me with that Mississippi and
fishery dispute, and he has no doubt it was then that Clay
stimulated Floyd, who also then lodged at Mrs. Peyton's, to
his movements of the succeeding winter. He says nothing
that Clay ever did in the whole course of his life has hurt his
character so much as his Parthian shaft at me, and his subse-
quent flinching from the contest that he had challenged.
At the office Mr. Bailey called for a moment; but I was
engaged with Mr. R. King, who came and mentioned to me
the debate which has been the last two days in discussion
before the Senate. He told mq the substance of his remarks
on the central power which, by the combination of certain in-
dividual members from two of the great States, was establishing
itself here at Washington to control the Constitution itself I
suggested to him the wish that he would reduce to writing the
purport of his observations and publish them — to which he
appeared disposed to assent.
We spoke also of the approaching controversy between the
Georgia delegation and the Executive Government of the United
States. I told him the course that I had recommended to the
President concerning it ; he thought it the best that could be
taken.
2 1st. I called at the beginning of the evening upon Colonel
John Taylor, the Senator from Virginia, and R. P. Garnett, the
member of the House, who has just returned from a visit home.
Taylor continues low in health and feeble. He repeated to
me the anecdote concerning Patrick Henry which he had
related some weeks since at my house : that in the campaign
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264 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
of 1781 Henry actually proposed in a secret session of the
Legislature of Virginia that she should be the first to submit
to Great Britain, in order that she might obtain the most favor-
able terms. Taylor was himself a member of the Legislature,
and heard him move to go into secret session, there make the
proposition, and support it by an eloquent speech. It met with
such immediate, indignant, and universal opposition that when
the debate closed he had changed his side, and was among the
most ardent and sanguine for perseverance in the war. Taylor
thinks there is great exaggeration in the panegyric upon Henry
by Mr. Wirt, and says that Henry had much less efficient
agency in the Revolution than many others.
He spoke also of the debates in Senate on Thursday and
Friday last, which he said would continue, and intimated his
intention to take further part in them. He told me that the
alteration of the Constitution in 1803, of the mode of electing
the President and Vice-President, had been determined upon
in a caucus, and the introduction of the amendment had been
assigned to him. He had introduced it. and it was carried, but
he now repented of it, and would be in favor of Mr. Mills's
amendment, to repeal that amendment and restore the Consti-
tution as it originally was.
23d. Went into the House of Representatives, where they
were debating upon the Tariff" bill. It has occupied the House
several weeks, and is not nearly finished. Many of the mem-
bers came and conversed with me. Plumer told me that
Forsyth had mentioned to him his having heard that I had
made a declaration of hostility to Crawford at the last drawing-
room, and had stated that the friends of Mr. Crawford had
since the commencement of the present session of Congress
changed their views favorably towards me; that they had
come here intending to combine the interests of Mr. Clay with
those of Mr. Crawford, but that Clay had alienated them by
his conduct, and now they were more amicable towards me ;
that Forsyth had spoken to Plumer confidentially, but with
permission to him to communicate what he said to me.
I desired Plumer to tell Forsyth that I had never made any
declaration of hostility to Mr. Crawford, and felt none. But
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when told that I had made or agreed to a coalition with Mr.
Crawford to serve under him, I had denied it. and had said
that if my friends should ultimately be compelled to vote for
another man, I did not believe Crawford would be the man.
J. W. Taylor read to me part of two letters he had received
from Albany; one from Mr. Cramer, the Senator, pressing the
necessity of concentrating upon one man the opposition to
Crawford. This is the Clintonian policy, and looks to Jackson.
The mining and countermining upon this Presidential election
is an admirable study of human nature. The mist into which
Calhoun's bubble broke settles upon Jackson, who is now
taking the fragments of Clinton's party. Those of Clay will
also fall chiefly to him and his sect, and Crawford's are now
working for mine. They both consider my prospects as des-
perate, and are scrambling for my spoils. I can do no more
than satisfy them that I have no purchasable interest. My
friends will go over to whomsoever they may prefer — some to
one and some to another.
24th. H. G. Burton, of North Carolina, came this morning
to converse with me upon the same Subject of which Forsyth
had spoken to Plumer — the rumor of a declaration of hostility
by me at the last drawing-room against Crawford. I told
him I had made no declaration of hostility against Crawford,
and felt none. I did not recollect having conversed with any
one at the last drawing-room upon the subject ; but I had said,
in answer to questions whether I had assented to a coalition
with Mr. Crawford in subordination to him, that no such
coalition existed ; that it was impossible that I should form a
part of an Administration under Mr. Crawford, and that if my
friends should ultimately vote for another, I did not believe Mr.
Crawford would be the man.
Burton said that he felt very anxious for the event of Mr.
Crawford's being withdrawn ; that his health was exceedingly
precarious; that his life was v^ry uncertain, and he (Burton)
was very anxious that in the event of Crawford's failure I should
have the next support of his friends. He was especially afraid
of Western politics, and of Clay.
I went over the ground again with Burton, and assigned to
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266 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
him the decisive objections to my serving under Mr. Crawford :
that I could not place myself in that relation to him with the
feelings essential to a zealous and heart-prompted discharge
of its duties, nor without sacrificing not only my personal
standing towards Crawford, as from man to man, but also that
of my own section of the country to his. So far as it would be
a sacrifice of mere personal pride, I could make it ; but as that
of the relative consideration of my State and section, I could
not.
Burton said he had told Crawford of my remarks to the same
effect heretofore ; to which Crawford had answered that there
was great weight in them, but that he still thought his chance
for election better than mine.
That, I observed, was to be determined by the event. Per-
haps neither of us might prove to be the strongest. I told him
further, that intimations of a similar character to those that I
had received from Mr. Crawford's friends had since been made
by partisans of General Jackson, and had received answers sub-
stantially the same.
25th. B. W. CrowninsHield called, and left with me a letter
to him from General H. A. S. Dearborn, enclosing a copy of
one from him to Colonel Towson; an answer to one from
Towson canvassing for Dearborn's influence to obtain the elec-
tion of Calhoun as Vice-President. Dearborn answers that this
is impossible; that the impulse there is given for Jackson
as Vice-President, and that Calhoun must be Secretary of
State.
Crowninshield could not wait, but said he would call upon
me in a day or two again. Wyer was here, and told me Colonel
Taylor of Caroline, the Senator from Virginia, had mentioned
to him that there was a rumor circulated in that State that my
father had made his will, bequeathing his estate to a public
institution, or to his native town, and that from tliis it was
inferred that I was laboring under his displeasure, and it was
producing unfavorable political impressions concerning my
personal character. He said Colonel Taylor had thoughts of
writing to my father about it. I told Wyer that I should be
glad if Colonel Taylor would write ; that my father's conduct
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to me had been that of a most affectionate father ; and that he
had not left it to the disposal of a will to bestow upon me my
portion of his estate. He had conveyed it to me by deed,
irrevocable by himselC I stated to him the various disposi-
tions advantageous to me already made by my father, and his
undeviating kindness to me. This utterly groundless rumor
is a new ingredient in the electioneering cauldron. What
next?
26th. I had received a note from the President, summoning
a Cabinet meeting at one; and found there Messrs. Calhoun,
Southard, and Wirt. Mr. Crawford is yet convalescent, and
nearly well, but not sufficiently so to attend this day.
The President had a letter to Mm from the Chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means, McLane, requesting various
statements respecting the transaction of business in the Au-
ditors* Offices, and his (the President's) opinion whether, with-
out public inconvenience, the office of Fourth Auditor may be
suppressed. The same questions had already been presented
in a letter from McLane to the Secretary of the Treasury upon
the General Appropriation bill. That was referred by Mr.
Crawford to the President, and by him, after a Cabinet meeting,
back to the Treasury for a report, which, owing probably to
Mr. Crawford's illness, has not been made.
The present application from the Chairman of the committee
directly to the President was thought improper, and of danger-
ous tendency as a precedent. The proper course to take with
it was to refer it to the Treasury Department for a report, and
that the President should request Mr. McLane to call upon him
and personally suggest to him the necessity of giving it that
direction- Whether the President should write to Mr. McLane
inviting him to call, or send him a message by Dr. Everett, his
private Secretary, was matter of doubt Discussion between
the President and committees of either House of Congress can
never be proper, and are never sought but by Chairmen of
committees disaffected to the Executive.
The President also read the draft of a message that he had
prepared to send to Congress upon the recent correspondence
with the Cherokee chiefs, and the remonstrance and protest of
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268 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS, [March,
the Georgia delegation. He will send them all as documents,
with a report from the Secretary of War, containing statements
of facts, but without noticing the Georgia protest. The draft
of the message also referring to the positive demand of the
Georgians that the Cherokees should be removed from their
State by force, recommending to Congress profoundly to weigh
the obligations of the Union to Georgia, and the rights of the
Indians, concluded by saying that, as the refusal of the Chero-
kees to remove was absolute and peremptory, Congress alone
were competent to authorize the employment of force to remove
them.
I observed that there was so much neutrality between the
parties in this, that the message might be construed into a
recommendation to Congress to authorize the use of force, and
if this was not intended, something should be said to show that
Georgia had no right to claim it, and that the Indians had per-
fect right on their side in refusing to remove.
This remark was supported by Calhoun and Southard, and
the President wrote a paragraph of that import, to be inserted
in the message.
I expressed the opinion also that the report of the Secretary
of War to the President should directly notice and answer the
charges of the Georgia remonstrance against the Government
of the United States.
Mr. Southard wished that this might be done ; but that the
Department of State should be charged with it.
Calhoun was not inclined to undertake it, and said the charges
were of a nature which did not admit of being answered. They
were charges of bad faith, of fraud, and hypocrisy. The exer-
tions of humanity and the measures for promoting the civiliza-
tion of the Indians were stigmatized as perfidy towards Georgia.
How was it possible to answer this?
I thought it by no means difficult to answer; but, as Mr.
Calhoun seemed unwilling to undertake it, I did not urge it.
Perhaps silence is the best answer to imputations so gross and
unfounded.
27th. Mr. Seymour, a Senator, and Mr. Mallary, a Representa-
tive, from Vermont, came to converse upon the prospects of the
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Presidential election. What were the views of Mr. Clay, of
Mr. Crawford, of General Jackson, of Mr. Calhoun, and of their
respective friends? Since I gave so explicitly my last answers
to Forsyth and Burton, that I could assent to no coalition to
support Mr. Crawford for the Presidency, and that I could form
no part of an Administration under him, his canvassers have
turned to the courtship of Mr. Clay and his friends. Mallary
said that he had no doubt the main force of Clay would go
to Crawford ; in which I entirely concurred. I was also fully
convinced that the main force of *De Witt Clinton, and the
stragglers of Calhoun, will go over to Jackson.
Seymour appeared anxious to ascertain for whom it would
be best to vote as Vice-President. I said I believed the popular
feeling in New England had already received such an impulse
that it was no longer controllable, nor did I think it worth while
to attempt the control of it. I was convinced it would give no
dissatisfaction to General Jackson, or his friends, that he should
be voted for as Vice-President by those who should support me
for the Presidency, and if others should carry him to the Presi-
dency itself, we must, as in every other event of the same elec-
tion, acquiesce in the voice of the nation, as delivered through
its constitutional organs. I told them I was very sure I had
nothing to expect, and was not willing to have anything to ask,
in the way of support to me from any other candidate or his
friends. I desired to stand only upon my own ground, and
would not crave assistance from any other quarter. I wished
my friends to vote for Jackson as Vice-President, because I
thought the place suited to him and him suited to the place.
The thing was fitting in itself, and perfectly well suited to the
usual geographical distribution of the two offices. On public
principles it was unexceptionable, and I would not look further
for determining motives.
Mr. Cheves, the Commissioner, and Mr. Seawell, the Arbi-
trator, upon the Slave Indemnity Commission, came to inform
me of the present state of things in that board, and to advise
with me concerning its future proceedings. The object of the
British Commissioner and Arbitrator is to protract, and ulti-
mately to disagree, and there is doubt whether in the disagree-
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270 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUTNCY ADAMS. [March,
ment itself they will make a question which the umpire will
be able to decide. The evidence of the average value is now
closed on the part of this Government, and the British Com-
missioner asks of ours to propose a specific sum, intending
then to propose one on his part and then support it by docu-
mentary evidence. And as the right of offering any evidence
on their part is questioned, he proposes to offer his documents
not as evidence, but as argument in support of his estimate.
Mr. Jackson, it seems, considers the question of the average
value not as a point to be decided upon his oath, but as a pre-
liminary negotiation. Mr. Cheves asked whether it would not
be better ultimately to make some sacrifice upon the average
value, rather than hazard the consequences of a difference upon
that point.
I thought it would, but not to any considerable amount.
29th. Received a note from the President calling a Cabinet
meeting at one, which I attended. Calhoun, Southard, and
Wirt were there. Southard said he had been told that Mr.
Crawford had sent the President a message to inform him that
his health was now sufficiently restored to attend Administra-
tion meetings, if he should call him to them.
The President said Mr. Crawford might have said this to Dr.
Everett, but he had heard nothing of it. There were now two
subjects for consultation: the renomination of Bates as Col-
lector at Bristol, Rhode Island, and the message on the com-
pact with Georgia and the Cherokee titles. There were specific
written charges against Bates by De Wolfe, the Senator from
Rhode Island, and two large bundles of papers for and against
him. Owing to the illness of Mr. Crawford, or to his unwilling-
ness to decide on the case, nothing has been determined at
jasury Department ; and the President, after having ex-
all the papers himself, had yet not made up his mind
merits. There had been a reference to the First Comp-
Anderson. The President now sent for him, and he
He could not make an unfavorable report upon the
the complaint submitted to him, but he was competent
> pronounce on the accounts, and not on the employ-
f moneys, and he flinched from all superfluous respon-
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sibility. Bates's term of service expires on the 5th of next
month, and a speedy nomination to the office is necessary.
After various expedients suggested and discarded, the Presi-
dent wrote a note to Mr. Crawford, referring the papers to him
for a report, and suggesting that if the state of his health does
not admit of his preparing it he may charge his Chief Clerk
with it.
Southard asked me who had signed all Crawford's warrants
throughout the winter. I supposed himself Southard said he
had been for months unable to write his name.
On the Georgia compact and Indian land rights the Presi-
dent read a new draft of a message, different from that of the
last meeting. In this he very distinctly declared his opinion
that the Indians cannot, with justice, be removed from their
lands within the State of Georgia by force. But, after setting
forth all that has been done by the Government of the Union
in fulfilment of the compact, the positive refusal of the Chero-
kees to cede any more of their lands upon any terms whatever,
and the impossibility of devising any other means short of force
to prevail upon them to go, there was a new and rather elabo-
rate argument introduced, of the absolute necessity that the
Indians should remove west of the Mississippi ; and, after con-
cluding that nothing further could be done by the Executive,
there were direct intimations that something should be done
by Congress.
I objected that this gave an appearance of incongruity to the
message, for it was an issue between the national Executive
and the Georgia delegation ; and after taking completely from
under them the ground upon which they themselves stood, it
gave them new ground to stand upon. It gave them the
means of peremptorily claiming something further, and imme-
diately, from Congress. And if that was intended, I insisted
that the Executive ought to have some practicable project
matured and requiring nothing but the sanction of Congress
to carry it into effect.
The President said that no such project was prepared, nor
had he any particular measure in view. Five or six years
since, about one-third part of the Cherokee nation were pre-
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272 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March.
vailed upon to surrender their lands and remove beyond the
Mississippi, and there is now in the city a deputation from them
also, complaining that they are as much disturbed and crowded
upon by the whites as they were before their removal.
I asked if it could be supposed that the deputation from the
old Georgia Cherokees, now here, were ignorant of this, or that
they would be encouraged to abandon their old establishments
for promises of a new one such as their tribesmen had found
west of the Mississippi.
Calhoun and Southard inclined to support my remarks.
Mr. Wirt proposed the omission of certain passages directly
recommending to Congress to decide upon some measure to
be taken. But I thought the proposal of a measure neces-
sarily followed from the purport of the argument, which I
thought it would be best to omit altogether.
The President said he would consider of it further.
Mr. Calhoun read the draft of his report to the President
upon the papers, which was a full statement of facts, show-
ing all that has been done in performance of the compact, but
with scarcely an allusion to the paper signed by the Georgia
delegation. The President spoke of the compact as a very
unfavorable bargain to the United States — as it certainly was.
Mr. Calhoun thinks that the great difficulty arises from tlie
progress of the Cherokees in civilization. They are now, within
the limits of Georgia, about fifteen thousand, and increasing
in equal proportion with the whites; all cultivators, with a
representative government, judicial courts, Lancaster schools,
and permanent property. Ridge, Hicks, and Lowry, now
here, are principal chiefs, and Ross. They write their own
State papers, and reason as logically as most white diploma-
tists. Each of the chiefs here named possesses from fifty to
a hundred thousand dollars property. One of the heaviest
grievances of the Georgia delegation is, that in the corre-
spondence between the War Department and these chiefs,
there is a letter from the Secretary of War to them, addressing
them by the style of "gentlemen." This was an inadvertency
of a clerk, overlooked by Calhoun in signing the paper, but
in which the Georgians think there was deep design.
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The Cabinet meeting continued till near five.
31st. I attended alone the drawing-room at the President's.
Thinner than usual. Conversations with W. Plumer, Crownin-
shield, J. W. Taylor, and Burton. All accounts from Albany un-
favorable to the Crawford interest, but otherwise uncertain and
contradictory. Taylor's letter from Stewart holds up Clay as
predominant. His conversations with Moore, a Calhounite
transferred to Jackson. Calhoun's game now is to unite Jack-
son's supporter^ and mine upon him for Vice-President. Look
out for breakers !
Day, I have received in the course of this month two hun-
dred and thirty-five visitors, which is an average of about eight
a day. A half an hour to each visitor occupies four hours a
day; but that is short of the average. The interruption to
business thus incessantly repeated is distressing, but unavoid-
able.
Lord of all mercy, grant Thy aid !
My soul for Thy behest prepare,
Of bliss or bane, the varied shade,
With humble fortifude to bear.
Submissive to Thy sovereign will.
And led by Thy unerring hand.
Be mine Thy purpose to fulfil,
And Thine, to bless my native land !
April 2d. W. Plumer this morning brought me a pamphlet,
sent me by its author, Jacob B. Moore — Annals of the Town
of Concord, in New Hampshire. Plumer spoke also of a
recent conversation between him and Mr. Van Buren, who was
sounding him with a view to bring him over to Mr. Crawford's
interest. Van Buren acknowledged himself under personal
obligations to me, but said he had supported Crawford as the
Republican candidate; that enquiries had been made last sum-
mer, in the Albany Argus, whether I was willing to be con-
sidered as the Republican candidate, and answered not satis-
factorily in the New York American. While Plumer was here,
Mr. Conway, of Arkansas, came and introduced General Rector,
of Missouri. I walked with Plumer to the Capitol, to hear
the close of Mr. Webster's speech upon the tariff — which I did.
He spoke about an hour ; but the principal part of his speech
VOL. VI. — 18
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2;4 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
was delivered yesterday. It was universally admitted to be an
able and powerful speech. Many of the members came and
spoke to me while I was in the House. Tomlinson, of Con-
necticut, and Van Rensselaer, of New York (Albany), spoke
of accounts received by them from their respective States
containing manifestations of opinion against Mr. Crawford,
who is now denominated the caucus candidate. J. W. Taylor
told me that J. A. Dix had been with him this morning from
General Brown, who was extremely anxious himself to see
Taylor. The object was to state to Taylor that it was the
desire of Mr. Calhoun to be supported for the office of Vice-
President; that there was every prospect of a certainty that
there would be a majority of the Legislature of New York for
me ; that the wish of Mr. Calhoun's friends was to fall in with
this prospect, and they wished that this arrangement might be
further recommended from this place.
Taylor said he believed the best way would be to let the
thing take its course.
I said that my friends would do as they should think proper.
Personally, and on purely public grounds, I should prefer to
see the Vice-Presidency conferred upon General Jackson. I
believed the public sentiment among those really my friends
was decidedly, perhaps unalterably, the same. The only pos-
sible reason for hesitation was Jackson's being a candidate for
the first office, and for that reason I thought the course of
New York should be left to itself I had no objection to Mr.
Calhoun's obtaining the Vice-Presidency.
C. A. Foote gave me a small colored drawing, directed to
Mrs. Adams, sent, as he said, by his eldest sister, a widow
Brian — an emblem of friendship. He said his sister and his
father were both great Adamsites, though he himself was a
caucus man.
I told him, laughing, that his sister was a wiser politician
than he — which, he said, was very possible.
Crowninshield, after Webster had finished his speech, had
some conversation with him in his seat, and immediately after-
wards came to me, and enquired if I had expressed an opinion
in favor of the present Tariff bill. I said no — not as it stood.
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The double duty upon molasses was, to me, an insuperable
objection against it. He said he had just been talking with
Webster, and asked him how came on with him Presidential
affairs; to which he answered he did not know, and, to tell
him the truth, did not care. Why so? Why, it seemed to
him nothing was to be got with one more than with another.
There was this damned tariff, and our friend J. Q. is as bad
upon it as any of the rest. " No," said Crowninshield ; " I have
understood he was not in favor of this bill." " I had it," said
Webster, ** from his own lips."
While Crowninshield was telling me this, Webster came out
from his seat, and was passing by us. I called to him, and he
sat down by me. I asked him if he had said I had told him I
was in favor of this Tariff bill as it now stood. He said no : I
had had no conversation with him upon the subject; but he
had been told last week that, upon some enquiry made of me,
I had answered I was in favor of the bill.
Crowninshield had not expected I should so immediately
call upon Webster for explanation; and Webster expected it
as little. They were both embarrassed. Crowninshield said
he had understood Webster to have said he had my opinion
directly from myself — which Webster again explicitly dis-
avowed. When he was gone, Mr. Crowninshield told me that
Webster had expressly said in words what he had repeated to
me; it was impossible that he should have misunderstood
him ; and added he had not a doubt that Webster had posi-
tively engaged to support Calhoun for the Presidency, and was
now ready to support any one else. At all events, this incident
completes the demonstration of Webster's political feelings to-
wards me. Calhoun and Crawford have both taken hold of his
ambition, and he has fallen into their toils.
While I was at the House, my messenger came there and
summoned me to the President's, where I found a Cabinet
meeting assembled. They had already been two hours or
more in session, and all the members but myself were present,
Mr. Crawford for the first time since last summer. The meet-
ing had been suddenly called, and the subject was a claim of
the State of Virginia for interest^ which she had paid upon
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276 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [April.
moneys borrowed during the late war, to pay for the defence of
the State — militia services — for which the United States have
already paid the claim of the State, but this was for interest on
moneys borrowed by the State at the time. The question had
been much discussed before I came in — Mr. Crawford earnestly
in favor of making the allowance, Mr. Wirt warmly pressing
for it, Mr. Calhoun very faintly opposing it, and Mr. Southard
silent. The President read several letters from him, as Secre-
tary of War, to the Governor of Virginia, in August and Sep-
tember of the year 18 14, warning him to be ready to repel an
attack of the enemy upon Norfolk or Richmond. This was the
authority upon which the militia had been called out and the
expenses incurred. I enquired for a law by which they were
authorized, but was referred only to that of loth April, 1812,
which gave no such authority.
It was observed that the claim for payment of the militia had
already been allowed and paid ; but, I observed, the authority
for the expenditure was questionable, as much upon a demand
for interest as for principal. Every precedent and rule for the
settlement of accounts at the War and Trecisury Departments
was against this allowance, and its admission would have ab-
sorbed about a million of public money at once, besides estab-
lishing a precedent which would swallow hundreds of millions
in future. There were two cases of interest allowed upon pay-
ments of this description made by States. They were Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey ; but in both it was in fulfilment of express
previous engagements. I thought the general rule and estab-
lished practice at the Treasury, of not allowing interest, wise
and just, and if it should once be broken in upon in favor of
a State I could discern no principle upon which it could be
denied to individuals. The rule was just, because the demand
for interest always rested upon grounds distinct from that of
the debt upon which it was claimed. The right to interest was
impaired by numberless contingencies which did not affect the
principal. It was so considered by all nations. It had been so
considered in our relations, both foreign and domestic, besides
being the foundation of the established Treasury rule. And I
instanced the withholding of interest during the period of the
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Revolutionary War upon British debts recovered in the country
after the war — a subject which had been long in controversy
between the two nations, and was ultimately settled by a com-
promise. Also our own funding system, in which all the
arrears of interest had been funded at an interest of three
per cent, and now constituted the stock of that denomination,
while all the capital of the debt had been funded at six per
cent, interest, though upon one-third of it the payment of
interest was deferred for ten years.
Crawford denied that the three per cent stock had been
constituted from arrears of interest. He had once at a former
meeting made the same denial, and I had suffered it to pass
without reply. I now merely read the fifth section of the Act
of 4th August, 1790, making provision for the debt of the
United States. I said if anything was to be done upon this
claim of Virginia by the Executive, I thought it should only
be to refer it to Congress, and that without any recommen-
dation of it. I should prefer leaving it to the Representatives
from Virginia to bring it into Congress themselves.
Crawford said if it was not allowed by the Executive he
should also prefer leaving it to Congress themselves; for, if
they should make the allowance, he was afraid they would
extend it also to individuals — to which he was not disposed
to assent
Calhoun and Southard now spoke decidedly against the
allowance, and it was concluded that the answer should be
accordingly. It was remarked that Governor Barbour had
already brought the subject before the Senate, where it had
been rejected, or strongly . discountenanced. Southard said
this was an additional reason for the Executive to decline
making the allowance; which Crawford admitted, saying he
did not know it had been before the Senate.
In this discussion, the only ground alleged by Calhoun was
the established rule, and the dissatisfaction which would be
given by departing from it. Precedent and popularity — this
is the bent of his mind. The primary principles involved in
any public question are the last that occur to him. What has
been done, and what will be said, are the Jachin and Boaz of
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278 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
his argument. Crawford talks more, and often of moral obli-
gation, but his ethics are neither sound nor deep. He applies
his principles with obliquity, and in most cases, as in this,
would have one rule for a State and another for individuals,
upon claims in which the ingredient of moral obligation was
precisely the same.
After the decision, Wirt said, joking, " Well, if it goes to
Congress, Virginia may whistle for her interest."
" And why should not she," said I, " when you make Mas-
sachusetts whistle for her principal ?"
" Because," said Wirt, " Massachusetts is the land of song."
As we came away, Calhoun and Southard told me that be-
fore I came in the discussion had been warm, and even angry.
Southard said he had given offence to Crawford, and Calhoun
said he had been afraid he should be outvoted ; that there had
been an argument of their strongest man. Chapman Johnson,
read in favor of the claim, and Crawford very pertinacious
for it.
3d. Mr. T. Cook was here about a negro woman, Jenny,
belonging to Mrs. H., whom she wishes to sell, and the sale
of whom to Mr. Edwards I interposed to prevent. She has
several children, one an infant of about six months and another
two years old. This last Mr. Edwards would not take, and
they were about separating her from that and all her other
children except the infant. The husband, Basil, was actually
sold to Governor Edwards, and he took him with him. But
Jenny was not unwilling to part with him. Mrs. H. was de-
termined to sell them all, and, to save her from being separated
from her children, I promised to make good what they should
sell for less than two hundred dollars, the condition of sale
being that they should not be sold out of the District Mr.
Cook, however, now informed me that this stipulation, though
often made, is easily and frequently evaded.
At the office. Captain Randall came, and, the Appropriation
bill having passed, was now furnished with his papers for his
departure. He is to leave the city next Wednesday.
Mr. Addington came to enquire concerning a resolution of
the House of Representatives, passed at the instance of Edward
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Livingston, of Louisiana, and the object of which was to ascer-
tain if any nation claimed certain rocks and islets in the Gulf
of Mexico, near the coast of Florida. Addington said he had
received a communication from the Governor of the Bahama
Islands informing him that they were within his jurisdiction.
Mr. Addington spoke also of the Act of the South Carolina
Legislature concerning colored persons arriving in the State
on board of ships, and said he had received a new express
instruction from his Government to make a new complaint in
the case of a British vessel from which three men had been
taken, to the great injury of the captain. He asked what had
been done in the case of which he had complained last summer.
I said that, having learnt immediately after receiving his letter
that the man had been discharged, no further measures had
been taken concerning it
5th. Arthur Livermore came to speak of the appointment
of District Judge in New Hampshire in the event of Mr.
Sherburne's resignation, and W. Plumer followed soon after.
Plumer had declined signing a written recommendation of
Livermore, but spoke of him as well qualified for the office.
Plumer named also Mr. Bell, the Senator, Levi Woodbury, the
present Governor, and Jeremiah Mason, of Portsmouth, as
persons who might be recommended, and all well worthy of
the station.
He spoke, too, of the Presidential election : the present pros-
pects in New York; the anxious efforts of Mr. Calhoun and his
friends now to obtain the support of mine for his election to
the Vice-Presidency; the solicitations of Rogers and Hamil-
ton in his behalf, and Calhoun's unfitness for the place ; the
uncertainty whether Jackson and his friends wish that he may
be supported for the Vice-Presidency or not, and the overture
from Burton of the wish that my friends would support Na-
thaniel Macon for Vice-President.
I requested Plumer to converse with J. W. Taylor, and with
Mr. Seymour, of Vermont, and consult them as to the expe-
diency of ascertaining the dispositions of General Jackson's
friends.
I had received a note from Mr. Silvestre Rebello, announcing
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28o MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
himself as Charge d'Affaires from his Majesty the Emperor of
Brazil, and asking an interview in that capacity, enclosing at
the same time a letter to me from the Brazilian Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs. The Empire of Brazil has not yet
been recognized, and the question is whether it shall now be
recognized by the reception of Mr. Rebello. The President
directed a Cabinet meeting to be called at one to-morrow.
I suggested also to the President the expediency of appoint-
ing Mr. Gallatin upon a special mission to Great Britain, to be
joined in the negotiations now confided to Mr. Rush alone, and
with a commission to take the place of Mr. Rush on his return
home, which he has announced his intention of effecting next
autumn.
The President said that he did not expect anything would
be effected by the present negotiations of Mr. Rush upon any
one point, not even upon the slave-trade; that his intention
had been to leave the appointment of the successor of Mr.
Rush in the English mission to his own successor.
I said that probably before Mr. Rush's return some decided
opinion might be formed as ^to who would be the successor to
the Presidency, and the appointment might be made with his
concurrence ; that my own wish would be in favor of Mr. Gal-
latin, and partly to relieve him from an awkward situation in
which he had been placed, doubtless with his own consent, but
with no present appearance of success, by his caucus nomi-
nation for the Vice- Presidency. I considered Mr. Gallatin, by
his talents and services, peculiarly fitted for, and entitled to,
the mission to Great Britain, and I should be sorry to see him
entirely discarded from the service of this coantry.
The President said he was confident no person other than a
native of the United States would be chosen Vice-President,
nor would the people of this Union ever forget Mr. Gallatin's
having quitted the Treasury Department at its utmost need, in
1 813. But he concurred entirely with me, that Mr. Gallatin
was eminently fitted for the mission to Great Britain, and
wished with me that he might receive no mark of disrespect
from the nation. Of the proposal to appoint him the successor
to Mr. Rush he would consider further.
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6th. At one, I attended the Cabinet meeting. Calhoun,
Southard, and Wirt were present. The question was pre-
sented by the President whether Mr. Silvestre Rebello should
be received as Charge d' Affaires from his Majesty the Emperor
of Brazil, and the independence of that country be thereby
acknowledged.
Mr. Wirt questioned the expediency of this measure, princi-
pally on the ground that the revolutionary Government estab-
lished there was monarchical and not republican.
Mr. Calhoun was warmly in favor of the recognition, dis-
tinguishing between the question of independence and that of
internal government.
Mr. Wirt thought that an immediate recognition of the
Brazilian Empire would be represented as favoring the views
of the Holy Alliance and a partiality for monarchies, and
alluded to General Jackson's refusal of the mission to Mexico
when Yturbide was Emperor, and to the publication of his
letter, assigning as his reason for the refusal that he would
give no countenance to that usurpation.
Mr. Calhoun said that the established policy of this country
in relation to South America had been to look only to the
question of independence, and invariably to recognize the
Governments "de facto"; that we had thus recognized the
Imperial Government of Yturbide, and received a Minister
from him ; that to decline the recognition of the Empire of
Brazil because it was monarchical, would be a departure from
the policy hitherto observed, and would introduce a new prin-
ciple of interference in the internal government of foreign
nations ; that the acknowledgment of the independence of
Brazil was highly important, our trade thither_being already
very considerable, and promising to be more valuable than
with all the rest of SQUth_An^erica.
The President observed that the recognition of Brazil as an
empire would lessen the offensiveness to the Holy Alliance of
the acknowledgments, as it would show that we did not make
a difference with regard to the forms of government.
I said there were reasons for the recognition of Brazil yet
stronger than those which had operated in the case of Spanish
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282 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Apiil,
America, inasmuch as the King of Portugal himself, while he
resided in Brazil, had proclaimed it an independent kingdom
and abolished the colonial system of government altogether.
But of the revolutionary changes since the return of the old
King to Portugal, we had not been authentically notified. I
proposed, therefore, that I should be authorized to see Mr.
Rebello, and call upon him for a statement of facts, authen-
ticated by documents, showing the independent condition of
Brazil ** de facto," and that the recognition should be founded
thereon ; which was accordingly determined.
The President then said he had been strongly urged to send
a message to Congress referring to them the claim of Virginia
for the payment of interest, which had been declined as an
allowance by Executive authority, and he read the draft which
he had prepared of such a message. Some slight alteration of
one of the paragraphs was proposed, but no objection was made
to the sending of the message itself
Mr. Rebello came (to Mrs. Adams's party) with Colonel
Torrens, and I desired him to call at two to-morrow at the
office of the Department of State. Mr. R. King, Senator from
New York, was here ; left with me a letter from H. Wheaton,
of Albany, of 2d April, since his return. From that and other
letters, nothing decisive can be collected of the dispositions of
the New York Legislature. Yates, the present Governor, was
dropped in the caucus nomination for Governor — sixty votes
for Young, forty-five for Yates ; one hundred and six members
present, fifty-four absent. Seventy-five for Root as Lieutenant-
Governor. No confirmation of the Congressional caucus nomi-
nation at this city. But this. Root writes, may come hereafter.
It is certain, however, that there will be no manifestation of
opinion against the Congressional caucus.
G. Hay told me there had been sharp words in the Tariff
debate this day in the House, between Hamilton, of South
Carolina, and Martindale, of Now York, and assured me that
he himself never in his life lost his temper in a public debate,
and that his coolness had often given him an advantage over
Chapman Johnson,
I asked Crowninshield if Southard had said anything hostile
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1824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 283
to me in his presence last Saturday. He said, no ; he might
have said something by way of joke, but was as friendly to me
as possible. Southard himself told me that great pains had
been taken to exasperate Crawford against him, and that Mrs.
Miller had charged him with unfair and ungenerous conduct
to Crawford in his illness, altogether without cause. Southard
spoke also of a private note which he had written to James
Lloyd, of the Senate, on the Navy Appropriation bill, which
had by mistake been given over to McLane, Chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means of the House; who had asked
Lloyd whether he might read it in the House. Lloyd answered,
no ; but demanded the note back, and returned it to Southard.
He said they were for making a dead set at him, but would get
nothing by it.
7th. At two, Mr. Silvestre Rebello came to the office, and
delivered to me the letter from Mr. Carvalho e Mello, Minister
of Foreign Affairs to the Emperor of Brazil, announcing him
in the character of Brazilian Charge d'Affaires.
I told him that in our recognition of the Spanish South
American nations we had proceeded upon authenticated and
official documents announcing the changes in their Govern-
ments; but none such had been received from the Brazilian
Government I invited him, therefore, to send me a written
statement of the facts, accompanied by document vouchers,
with translations, as it was probable they would be commu-
nicated to Congress and to the public.
He said he would prepare and send me such an exposition
of facts, and accompanied by the documents ; that the King
of Portugal himself had in the year 18 17 (it was in 181 5) pro-
claimed Brazil an independent kingdom, and as such it had
been recognized by the European powers ; that after his return
to Portugal the Brazilian nation had exercised its own right
and had constituted itself an empire. This was a mere word.
It implied an extensive territory, which could not be applicable
to Portugal, but was eminently so to Brazil. Its meaning,
however, was only that Brazil was an independent nation, and
its Government was in principle republican — the Emperor
himself being more inclined to republicanism than the people
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284 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
of the country ; that the documents were all public, and if the
Government of the United States had not received them it was
the fault of their Agent in omitting to forward them.
I said we were possessed of the documents, but it was neces-
sary that we should have them officially authenticated.
He said he would send translations, but enquired if it was
not matter of right for him to make his communications in
his own language. I answered, certainly; but that we had
no person here sufficiently versed in the Portuguese lan-
guage to make the translations so correctly as I should wish
to have them of these papers. And I remarked that all the
Portuguese public Agents in this country hitherto had written
in English or in French.
He said he would make me the communication as soon as
possible, and took leave.
8th. Colonel Richard M. Johnson came, and recommended
Mr. Overton as District Attorney in Pensacola in the place of
F. W. Steele, if he should be removed ; also C. Savage for
the Consulate in Guatemala, which he solicits. The Colonel
spoke also of the Presidential election, and of his recent con-
versation with Governor Barbour, of Virginia, Mr. Van Buren,
of New York, and Jesse B. Thomas, of Illinois. Thomas is yet
ardent and sanguine as at any former period. Van Buren stills
puts on a good face, and professes to expect final success.
Barbour seems ready to give up the cause. The nomination
of Young as the candidate for Governor in preference to Yates,
the present incumbent, is considered too much as a defeat of
Van Buren*s party and an indication of the decay of his influ-
ence. Johnson said he had seen a letter from a friend of Clay's
stating that they would agree upon an electoral ticket of eigh-
teen for Clay and eighteen for me, but all to vote for one or the
other, according to the prospects of success.
9th. Mr. Knowles, of Charlestown, was here this morning.
Going to-morrow morning upon his return home. Very anx-
ious upon the Presidential election; and particularly to de-
termine whether it will be expedient for my friends to support
General Jackson for the Vice-Presidency. I told him I thought
it advisable that they should, until something from General
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Jackson or his friends should distinctly signify an unwilling-
ness that he should be voted for in that capacity. And in
that case I should personally be satisfied if they would support
Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina.
Evening at the theatre ; " Wives as They Were, and Maids
as They Are," with the farce of " Turn Out** substituted for
another. Performance better than usual. Walking home, Mr.
Southard spoke of W. Lowrie's publication in the newspapers,
and of Mr. Crawford's having this day withdrawn the Treasury
patronage from the Washington City Gazette, in consequence
of a violent personal attack upon the President in that paper of
last Tuesday.
loth. Mr. McLean, the Postmaster-General, called this morn-
ing at my house. I gave him a letter from Mr. Pitman, the
United States District Attorney at Providence, Rhode Island,
recommending the appointment of a person as Postmaster there,
requesting him to return the letter to me.
He spoke of the equivocal appearances in New York respect-
ing the Presidential election, and said that an explicit mani-
festation of opinion in New York would be equally decisive in
Ohio and Indiana. This, however, is not now to be expected.
I called at the President's with the note received from Ad-
dington, complaining of the South Carolina law, which I left
with him. He said he would nominate Savage as Consul at
any port in Guatemala.
I told him the substance of the conversation I had had with
Mr. Rebello, and observed that in the event of his recognition
and reception it would be necessary to nominate Mr. Raguet,
or some other person, as Charge d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro,
as the informal agency of Mr. Raguet would become after-
wards questionable in a constitutional point of view.
The President thought the appointment of a Charge d'Affaires
to Brazil might still be postponed, and asked if the nomination
of Raguet would be supported by the Senators from Pennsyl-
vania. I proposed to enquire of them, and said I had no recison
to doubt of it — unless perhaps Mr. Lowrie should object to
Raguet for some taint of federalism.
This led the President to speak of Lowrie's late publication
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286 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
in the American Sentinel of Philadelphia, recently republished
in the National Intelligencer. On the 15th of March Lowrie
wrote a second letter to the President, stating explicitly that
he (P. U. S.) had read to him and Findley a letter from General
Jackson to him, recommending to him to form his Cabinet of
distinguished individuals of both the great political parties; then
adverting to the recent denials in the newspapers, which he
says have given rise to imputations upon his character, and to
reproachful letters from persons whose confidence he had here-
tofore enjoyed. Lowrie, therefore, demands of the President
that he would publish Jackson's letter to him.
Some days after this, A. Stevenson called upon the President
at Lowrie's request, and asked if he had received Lowrie's letter
of 15th March, and if an answer to it might be expected.
The President told Stevenson that he had received that and
a preceding letter from Lowrie ; that the first of them was in
an adversary attitude, announcing himself to be in possession
of a letter written by him (the President), and that he had not
determined what to do with it. He had received this letter
under a blank cover from Richmond, but it had come from a
person who had no right to it, and there was a breach of trust
or dishonesty somewhere in the process of its coming to his
possession. The second letter did not alter the attitude ; and
while that continued, Mr. Lowrie must take his own course.
After this, Stevenson called again upon the President, and
declared on Lowrie's part that he had not, in writing the first
letter, the most distant intention of menacing or assuming a
hostile position, and requesting to withdraw that letter; but
the President declined returning it Lowrie then, on the ist of
this month, wrote to the editors of the Sentinel at Philadel-
phia requesting them to publish his letter to the President of
15th March, preceded by an article from the Democratic Press
of 20th January, introducing Kremer's letter of 17th January,
and by an article from the Franklin Gazette of 30th January,
declaring an explicit denial of Mr. Findley that the President
had ever read to him such a letter from Greneral Jackson. In
his letter to the editors of the Sentinel, Lowrie says he hopes
no after-event will compel him to publish the incontrovertible
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evidence that he possesses; meaning, doubtless, thereby his
surreptitious prize, the President's answer to Jackson.
The President said that he supposed General Jackson would
some day publish his letter, but would choose his own time for
it. Throughout the whole transaction, the President said, he
saw nothing to regret, excepting the misplaced confidence that
he had bestowed by alluding to the contents of Jackson's letter
to persons who had proved unworthy of the trust. But, he
said, he was confident he had not read any letter of Jackson's
to Lowrie and Findley. And Findley's recollection concurred
with his. Findley himself had declared to him that he (Mr.
Monroe) had never read to him and Lowrie any letter from
Jackson whatsoever.
The President then adverted to another subject, of which he
had never before spoken to me, but which for years has given
him trouble. On the 3d of March, 18 17, there was appropri-
ated twenty thousand dollars, and on the 20th of April, 18 18,
thirty thousand dollars, for furnishing the President's house, to
be expended under his direction. He charged Colonel Lane,
Commissioner of the Public Buildings, chiefly with it. Lane
died about a year and a half ago, a defaulter for several thou-
sand dollars, and rumors have since been in obscure circulation
that the President himself had used large sums of the money
and thereby occasioned the defalcation. At the last session of
Congress, John Cocke, member of the House from Tennessee,
instituted in the House an enquiry concerning the state of
Lane's accounts after his decease, and, finding upon examina-
tion that the President had received a part of the money, sent
him a message to enquire if he would appear before the Com-
mittee, to answer interrogatories or give explanations concern-
ing these expenditures.
He desired the person who brought him the message to tell
Cocke that he was a scoundrel, and that that was the only
answer he would give him. Cocke had then intended to make
a report, but the committee which had been raised at his in-
stance would not agree to it. At the present session of Con-
gress, Cocke had again'raisvj J a committee on the subject, and
is pushing the investigation to a report.
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288 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April.
In the mean time, charges have been raised against Cocke
himself, of having embezzled moneys received by him as an
agent for certain pensioners. He has been attacked about it in
the Washington Republican, and the attack upon the President
in last Tuesday's Gazette was by way of retaliation, and written
by Colvin. It was for this paper that Mr. Crawford withdrew
from the Gazette the patronage of the Treasury Department,
upon the admonition, as Wirt tofd Southard, of Mr. Catlet, of
Alexandria, a warm friend both of the President and of Mr.
Crawford.
The President now read me the draft of a message prepared
to send in to Congress, requesting the appointment of a com-
mittee to investigate his accounts and his management of
public moneys entrusted to him during the whole time that he
has been in the public service, since his first mission to France
in 1794. And with this he put into my hands two memoirs,
dne upon his claims for further allowances upon his missions
to Europe, and the other upon his transactions with Colonel
Lane respecting the two appropriations for furnishing the Presi-
dent's house. He spoke of his forbearance to dismiss Colvin
from the Department of State ; of Colvin's treachery to Robert
Smith, who had placed him in the Department; said Colvin
had afterwards offered to write for him in the ne\yspapers,
which he had declined. He had always kept him employed
on service not confidential. When Mr. Madison's Adminis-
tration drew to a close, and he (Mr. Monroe) was before the
nation as a candidate for the Presidency, Colvin wrote in the
newspapers against him, and after the election in his favor.
I told the President that Colvin had treated me much in the
same manner — at first with flattery that I had nauseated, then
by neglect of duty and grovelling vices till I had been com-
pelled to dismiss him from office, and by lampooning me from
that day to this in the City Gazette. He had rung all the
possible changes of falsehood against me, from the basest lie
to the most insidious misrepresentation. But he could allege
at least against me that I had taken from him his place, which
was his bread. For his baseness to Mr. Monroe he had no
provocation.
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nth. I read this day the President's memoir upon the trans-
actions relating to the appropriations for furnishing the Presi-
dent's house. It enters into details of a very humiliating
character, and which ought never to have been, or to be, re-
quired of him. The principal difficulty appears to have sprung
from his having used his own furniture until that provided for
by the appropriations could be procured, and having received
for it six thousand dollars, to be repaid upon the redelivery of
his furniture to him. This produced an intermingling of Lane's
public and private accounts with him, which, by Lane's sickness
and death, remained unsettled at his decease. There arises
from all this an exposure of domestic and household concerns
almost as incongruous to the station of a President of the
United States as it would be to a blooming virgin to exhibit
herself naked before a multitude. The malignity of political
opposition has no feeling of delicacy. There appears to be
nothing really censurable in all these transactions, but Lane
was an unfortunate selection of an agent, and his final insol-
vency has produced all these awkward consequences.
1 2th. John W. Taylor called on me this evening, and said
Plumer had spoken to him of the expediency of applying to
General Jackson, or some of his friends, to ascertain whether
it would be agreeable to him to be supported for the Vice-
Presidency by my friends ; that he had casually put the ques-
tion to Judge Isaacs, of Tennessee, who intimated that it would
be pleasing to him, but said he would speak with Taylor of it
again.
I said that since the meeting in New York the prospect of a
powerful effort in that State to support Jackson for the Presi-
dency was so great that I thought it best to let the thing take
its own course, and make no application to him or his friends
with reference to the Vice-Presidency.
Taylor said his belief was that Tallmadge was endeavoring
to get up a party for Jackson, and that the project of the Con-
vention at Utica was formed with that intention ; though Mar-
vin and Hayden and Martindale, he said, were of a different
opinion.
I said I had never expected anything from the project of a
VOL. VI. — 19
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290 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
Convention, and that if the popular voice should not be really
in Jackson's favor it would easily be seen by calling meetings
to express different opinions.
Taylor thinks that the assumption by the Albany caucus of
Young for their candidate as Governor was the result of a bar-
gain, and that its object was to prevent the opposite party from
setting up Young in opposition to Yates. And he thought it
probable that all the mining and countermining might ulti-
mately compel my friends to fall in and support Young and
Crawford, to keep out Jackson.
The result of all is that New York has been, and will be,
bargained away. Taylor said that since he had spoken to me
at the House he had seen General Brown, who had told him
that Mr. Calhoun's friends wished him to be in the next Admin-
istration in a more active situation than that of Vice-President;
but he himself inclined to the Vice-Presidency, probably for
the sake of a certainty of not being entirely thrown out of
place. And he asked Taylor what he thought would be my
views in this respect. Taylor said he did not know, but had
no reason to suppose that I would remove Calhoun from his
present office. Dix afterwards hinted to Taylor that Calhoun's
friends wished him to be Secretary of the Treasury, a plac^
which it was supposed might be vacant.
I told Taylor the time had certainly not yet come, if it ever
should, for me to think of these arrangements. I had no hesi-
tation in saying that I should have no disposition to remove
Mr. Calhoun, nor had I any reason for concluding that in the
event of my election the Department of the Treasury would be
vacant. I suppose that the principal object of General Brown's
soundings was to ascertain whether I would dismiss Crawford
and appoint Calhoun in his place. On parting from me, Taylor
concluded to take no further step at present, but to wait for the
progress of events. He says that General Jackson admits that
he wrote to the President a letter somewhat resembling that
which Lowrie asserts that the President read to him and Find-
ley, but that too much consequence has been attached to it.
And Lowrie says he feels quite easy since his publication.
13th. Mr. Mosher came and spoke to me of his, or rather, I
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suspect, Mr. George Hay*s, project of setting up a new paper.
I told him of the difficulties which it would have to encounter,
and that its success must entirely depend upon its supplanting
the National Intelligencer, which would be no easy thing. The
editors of that print were, indeed, giving great dissatisfaction,
probably to a majority of Congress, by the disingenuous course
they were pursuing in regard to the Presidential election. But
they still kept within bounds reconcilable to any of the candi-
dates who might succeed, other than their own; and when-
ever the election of printers to Congress should come on, the
destruction of their establishment by the British in 18 14 would
be remembered in their favor. And, after all, the question will
remain, whether Congress can expect to gain anything by a
change. An establishment which should report the debates in
Congress even as well as they do could not easily be formed.
I said the Washington Republican was a partisan paper, which
had never paid its expenses, and which could not, in my opin-
ion, survive the present year, having the irredeemable defect of
being edited by an Englishman not yet naturalized. Mosher
said Mr. Calhoun was of the same opinion.
14th. W. Plumer was here, and spoke of his conversations
with J. W. Taylor upon the expediency of ascertaining the
views of General Jackson with regard to the Vice-Presidency.
All the General's friends to whom it had been mentioned
approved and desired that my friends should support him for
that office. But Taylor had concluded not to say anything
of it to him. I concurred in this, and observed that, as the
support by my friends of General Jackson would rest upon its
only proper ground, the fitness of the thing, I should prefer it
infinitely to any bargaining for support to myself.
15th. Fuller was here, to converse upon the politics of the
day. He spoke of information from various quarters that a
combined and systematic effort was making in Massachusetts
to secure the federalists in support of Mr. Crawford. And
this object is to be brought to bear upon the elections for the
House of Representatives in the present year. Fuller spoke
also of the Tariff bill, which passed yesterday to the third
reading, by a vote of one hundred and five to one hundred and
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292 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April.
two, in the House of Representatives. Mr. Burton called while
Fuller was with me, but, hearing I was engaged, went away,
saying he would come at another time.
17th. At the office, Albert H. Tracy came, and had a con-
versation with me of nearly two hours, chiefly on the prospects
of the Presidential election. He said there was a great and
powerful party getting up for General Jackson as President
in New York ; that it could not possibly succeed, but that its
probable effect would be to secure the electoral vote of the
State to Mr. Crawford. He said that the Legislature, having
retained the choice of the electoral ticket to themselves, and
thereby incurred some unpopularity, would be careful to choose
a ticket the vote of which would be decisive of the election,
and thereby endeavor to justify themselves before the people.
Tracy has more than once expressed to me the opinion that
among the people as well as in the Legislature of New York
the political impulse to action was founded upon the doctrine
of equivalents. John W. Taylor, member from New York,
called in the evening. He said that J. A. Dix had been with
him this morning and assured him that the opinion in circula-
tion, that Mr. Calhoun was desirous of supporting General
Jackson for the Presidency, was unfounded ; that Mr. Calhoun's
personal dispositions were in favor of me, but that he did not
see how he could use any influence in my favor. Taylor said
he had also had a recent conversation with General Brown,
who was decidedly and anxiously now friendly to me, and
convinced that the movement in favor of Jackson will, if per-
sisted in, give the vote of the State ultimately to Mr. Crawford.
He spoke also of a Mr. Moore, who has been several weeks
here, and for some time was very actively canvassing for Gen-
eral Jackson and endeavoring to spread the opinion that the
vote of New York would be for him. But lately he has
changed his views, and is now, as he told Taylor, convinced
that unless I am supported the vote of New York must go to
Crawford. Taylor said Moore's real object was the promotion
of De Witt Clinton, and it was to his interest that all Moore's
present movements were directed; that he (Taylor) had told
him it was in vain to set up General Jackson in opposition to
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Crawford in New York ; that he could not succeed, and if Mr.
Clinton and his friends should support him, they could only
aggravate their own discomfiture and achieve the triumph of
Crawford and Van Buren; that General Jackson and his friends
ought to know this, and should leave no doubt remaining
whether he and they were willing that he should be sup-
ported as Vice-President by those who would vote for me as
President; that Moore had since seen and conversed with
Jackson, and Taylor himself had conversed with Mr. Eaton,
the other Senator from Tennessee, and the confidential friend of
Jackson ; that the General had declared he had no wish to
withdraw from me the support of New York, and Eaton had
said the GeneraFs friends would be gratified if mine should
support him for the Vice-Presidency. Moore told Taylor also
that he meant to call upon and converse with me. Taylor said
Moore's object would be to ascertain my sentiments with regard
to Clinton; that Tallmadge was endeavoring to get up the
party for General Jackson under the self-delusion that he him-
self would be nominated at the Convention, to be supported
for Governor in opposition to Young.
I told Taylor that I should speak to him in perfect confidence,
and as I should to my own heart ; but I should certainly not
cast away all reserve in communicating with Mr. Moore. I
mentioned to him the project disclosed to me by a Virginian
early in December, of a coalition between Mr. Calhoun, Mr.
Clinton, and me, and his intention to see Mr. Clinton and
propose it to him on the idea of my being chosen President,
with Clinton Secretary of State, and Calhoun Secretary of the
Treasury. I mentioned my having explicitly forbidden to let
Mr. Clinton know, if he should see him, that I had any knowl-
edge of this intention, or to give him the most distant idea of
countenance to it from me ; that I was not disposed to sell the
skin before the animal was taken, and, while my own election
was a bare possibility, I should not even deliberate in my own
mind, much less could I announce to others, how my Cabinet
might be composed if I should be chosen. I could say without
hesitation to Mr. Moore that I felt no personal hostility to Mr.
Clinton. I had a high opinion of his talents and of his capacity
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2Q4 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
for serving the public in important trusts. It was said that the
movement now making in New York for General Jackson was
with the purpose and expectation of his appointing Mr. Clinton ;
and in the event of General Jackson's election he could make
no disposition of the office which would be more satisfactory
to me. For myself, I would add as evidence of my sentiments
concerning Mr. Clinton, that I had more than once named him
to the President for nomination to important missions abroad.
There was no mission for which I did not consider him well
qualified, and, independent of the deference which, with regard
to all important offices, it was indispensable to show for pre-
vailing public sentiment, there was not a person in the Union
whose aid in the office that I now hold would be more accepta-
ble to me than that of Mr. Clinton. But if I should be elected,
the support of the State of New York to my Administration
would be so vitally necessary to me that my course must neces-
sarily be shaped to that consideration, as combined with the
paramount interest, the good of the whole. Mr. Clinton's
political fortunes and power were so changeful that he might
one day be as sure to lose for an Administration of which he
should be a member the support of New York, as the pre-
ceding or following day he might obtain it.
Taylor fully concurred in all these sentiments, and said that
an answer in terms altogether general to Mr. Moore would
be most advisable, and that on his return home he could,
himself see and converse either with Mr. Clinton or with
Mr. Colden, his confidential friend, at New York; to which I
assented. Taylor still believes that the Convention project is
Tallmadge's, and that it cannot succeed.
1 8th. Between the services. Colonel Dwight, a member of
the House from Massachusetts, called on me, and at my invi-
tation came and dined with us. He came to say that he had
seen letters from North Carolina speaking of certain persons
there who were disposed to support me at the ensuing election,
but that prejudices were entertained there against me on ac-
count of the part I had taken in the case of John Smith, of
Ohio, the whole history of which I related to him, adding that
the prejudices to which he referred were such as it would cer-
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tainly not be in my power to remove. They must have been
taken up at the time of those events, now sixteen years gone
by. They were at that time shared by great numbers of per-
sons, and, in truth, by almost the whole federal party. The
Colonel spoke to me of H. Storrs, one of the members from
the State of New York, a fellow-lodger with him, and who is
now unwell. Storrs has been heretofore very unfriendly to
me, but Dwight says he is now quite otherwise. I asked
him how Storrs would be to-morrow. Yet he is one of the
ablest men in the House, and a man of pleasant manners and
conversation.
19th. Mr. Addington, the British Charge d'Afiaires, called,
and left with me an extract from a letter from General. Grant,
Governor of the Bahama Islands, claiming the Keys on the
Salt Key Bank as a portion of his Government. Addington
spoke also of the Tariff bill's having passed the House of
Representatives without the desired provision for equalizing
the duties upon rolled and hammered iron.
I told him Mr. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, had promised to
take up the subject in the Senate, but I could not say how it
would finally be decided.
He mentioned again the South Carolina law, the papers con-
cerning which are before the President, and the transactions
relating to the admission of Consuls in the West India
Colonies..
I read to him the correspondence between Mr. Rush and Mr.
George Canning on that subject, and told him we had been a
little surprised at the changes of the determination of his Gov-
ernment concerning it ; that we should, however, on our part,
do nothing with precipitation.
We largely discussed also the new transient tax imposed by
the Legislature of the island of Jamaica, which, he contended,
did not necessarily import discriminating charges against our
traders to the island, but admitted that it would have against
them all the effects of discrimination.
The Presidential campaign is verging to violence. Walter
Lowrie, a Senator from Pennsylvania, publishes in the National
Intelligencer this morning a reply to a piece signed " P." in the
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2^6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
same journal of last Thursday, and which he now says was
written by George Hay. Lowrie answers several questions
put him in that publication, and now publishes his own letter
to the President of 2 1st February, and the anonymous letter
to him from Richmond, which covered the President's answer
to General Jackson's letter. The whole of this transaction be-
longs to the small trade of electioneering, and displays more
of the narrow prejudices of political rancor than of anything
else. It proves to me the great impropriety of private inter-
views between members of Congress and the President in
relations to nominations for office ; the tendency to misrepre-
sentation in all statements infected with the venom of party ;
the extreme difficulty, even for men in the highest stations, to
preserve entire propriety of conduct in delicate situations ; and
the malignant aspect which a want of candor and explicitness
gives to incidents trivial or insignificant of themselves.
But a much graver affair has this day broken out afresh in
the House of Representatives. An address to the House was
read from N. Edwards, lately a Senator from Illinois, now
appointed Minister to Mexico, defensive of himself against a
charge contained in a report to the House, made by Mr. Craw-
ford since Edwards left this place, that Edwards had made false
statements against Crawford before a committee of the House
at the last session. Edwards retaliates by six direct allegations
of official misconduct in Crawford, closing with a broad insinua-
tion against him of perjury.
This paper came upon the House by surprise, and they
showed titubation as to what they should do with it. They
finally referred it to a select committee, with power to send
for persons and papers. Edwards avows himself the author of
the A. B. papers of last winter, and challenges a charge against
himself, of having falsely inculpated Mr. Crawford, admitting
that, if he has, it is a misdemeanor which renders him unworthy
of the office that he holds. In this affair Edwards is under
great disadvantages, by his absence ; by the want of any person
here daring enough to sustain his cause against the browbeat-
ing temper of Crawford's partisans, and by the dastardly spirit
of the rest. Crawford will be sustained against demonstration
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itself. But they will only substitute invective against Edwards
for impeachment.
20th. I called at the President's, and found him much con-
cerned at this memorial of N. Edwards against Mr. Crawford.
He was extremely dissatisfied with Edwards, and appeared dis-
posed to suspend his departure for Mexico. While I was with
him, Mr. Calhoun came in, and Mr. Southard was sent for.
After some conversation, the opinion was unanimous that
the President should wait until it should be seen what will
be done by the Committee of Investigation, which consists of
Floyd, Livingston, Webster, Randolph, Taylor, McArthur, and
Owen of Alabama. The composition of the committee, and the
temper of the Chairman, are a clear indication of the report
to be expected from it. The prepossession against Edwards
in this case appears to be universal.
I said my opinion was that the first measure of the com-
mittee ought to be to send for Edwards, and it is certain that
no thorough investigation can be made unless he should be
here ; but, as the subject is before the House in the aspect of
impeachment, either against Crawford or Edwards, that the
Executive ought not in any respect to interfere until called
upon by some incident in the regular discharge of his duties.
And so it was concluded.
I said I thought it impossible that the House should dis-
charge its duty to the nation without coming to Some expres-
sion of strong censure upon one or the other of the parties.
Calhoun said it was politically a question of life and death to
them both. I observed that I should, however, not be sur-
prised if the House should endeavor to throw it off without
coming to any decision upon it
The President directed that the opinion of the Attorney-
General should be taken upon the constitutionality of the
South Carolina Statute.
I had some conversation with J. W. Taylor, who is a member
of the committee upon N. Edwards's memorial. I told him I
thought it indispensable that Edwards should be summoned to
attend the committee ; but he doubted whether there would be
time to send for him without protracting the session of Con-
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298 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
gress into the summer. Mr. Crawford's friends appear to be
anxious that Edwards should be sent for ; but they are equally
anxious for a speedy decision. A postponement to the next
session would be unfavorable to Mr. Crawford's Presidential
prospects, and to give the committee power to sit during the
recess would establish a dangerous precedent. Taylor spoke
of applying to be excused from being of the committee. It
will be a troublesome and perilous service.
2 1 St. Mr. Rufus King, Senator from New York, called for con-
versation, and sat with me about an hour. He concurred with
me in opinion that the committee of the House of Representa-
tives on the memorial of Ninian Edwards ought to send for him
immediately, and that Edwards ought instantly to attend, and,
if necessary, to resign his office, in order to remain here and
await the issue of the investigation instituted by the House of
Representatives ; that this is indispensable to Edwards himself,
as he will otherwise be utterly ruined, and certainly removed
from the office that he now holds. Upon the subject of the
controversy relating to General Jackson's letter to the Presi-
dent, King thinks that Lowrie has involved himself in embar-
rassment inextricable, and says he will be stimulated on till he
publishes the President's letters in his hands, and then General
Jackson will publish the whole correspondence. As to the
State of New York, Mr. King thinks her final course upon the
Presidential election as uncertain as ever. He thinks little of
the political stability of Tallmadge, and that De Witt Clinton
will probably be run for Governor of New York. Mr. King
spoke of Webster's deportment to him during the present
session as shy and unsocial.
22d. Mr. Crowninshield and Mr. Moore called on me this
morning, and Moore asked me to name a time when I would
see him alone. I named seven o'clock this evening. I received
a note from the President, with one to me, Mr. Calhoun, and
Mr. Southard. The joint note intimated a determination to
send a special messenger this day to Mr. Edwards, ordering
him to repair to this city to attend the enquiry by the House
of Representatives, which he has invited. And it proposed
for consultation whether he should not send a special message
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299
to the House of Representatives announcing the fact of the
order sent to Mr. Edwards, and also give notice of it to Mr.
Crawford. The separate note to me recommended to me to
send off the order to Mr. Edwards immediately, and required
me to attend, with Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Southard, at his house
at ten this morning. Mr. Wirt is at Baltimore. Perceiving by
these notes that some external influence had been operating on
the mind of the President since the deliberate decision of the
day before yesterday, and thinking the course now proposed
by him ill advised, I went to his house before ten. He had his
message all ready to sign announcing that he had ordered N.
Edwards to come here and attend the orders of the House.
I told him there were two objections to this : one, a question
of his authority to give such an order to Edwards ; the other,
that it was a direct interference with the constitutional powers
and proceedings of the House.
At first he seemed inflexibly determined, and, although he
said he was sure my advice proceeddcl from the purest motives,
he insisted that he must abide by the conclusions of his own
judgment ; to which I assented. He was highly exasperated by
the course Edwards has taken in this affair, as implicating him
in the suspicion of being leagued with him against Mr. Craw-
ford as a candidate for the Presidency. He was exceedingly
galled by the gross imputations of this kind thrown out by
Floyd and Forsyth, in the debates, against him, and seemed to
think that by sending this order to Edwards, and a message to
the House announcing it, before he received any information
from the House that they had the subject before them, he
should put it out of the power of those worthies to repeat any
such charges.
I observed that such an order from him to Mr. Edwards, sent
by express, would import expense both in the sending, and to
Mr. Edwards if he obeyed the command, which he would
charge to the public. How was this to be paid ? He said he
would pay it himself.
Southard now came in, and, upon discussion, concurred
entirely with me against the message, but suggested that an
order might immediately be dispatched to Edwards not to
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300 AfEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
proceed on his mission, but to await the orders of the com-
mittee or the House. I added that it could not fail but in the
course of the day the President would receive from the House
information that they had ordered the attendance of Mr. Ed-
wards, and in the answer to the communication the House
might be informed of this previous Executive order.
The President assented to the immediate dispatching of the
order, and I went to the office of the Department, wrote the
order to Edwards, and took it back to the President for his
approbation. As I was returning, I met Mr. Southard, who
said the President was still determined to send a message to
the House, and read me an amendment which he had drawn
to the one proposed by the President, to which he asked me
if I could not assent. I said I could not change my opinion,
but I would acquiesce in the President's decision.
We returned to the President's together. He approved of
the order to Mr. Edwards as I had drafted it. As to the
message, I told the President that his earnestness for sending
it being upon considerations personal to himself, it was with
extreme reluctance that I advised him against it. All the
proceedings in this case were novel, and they led to the de-
velopment for the first time of many constitutional principles.
Every step taken by the Executive would be a precedent for
futurity ; and I was therefore, above all, anxious that nothing
should be done with precipitation. If he persisted in sending
the message, as modified by the proposed alteration of Mr.
Southard, I should say no more against it ; but if Mr. Edwards
should come here and arrive after the close of the session of
Congress, what would he do with him ?
The President said he would institute an enquiry into the
whole affair.
I asked him where he would find throughout the Union men
competent to such an enquiry, willing to undertake and perform
it, and impartial between the parties ?
This he did not answer. He postponed the determination
upon the sending the message. I went back to my office to
dispatch the order, and Mr. Southard went over to Georgetown
to consult Mr. Calhoun, who was detained at home by his wife's
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confinement. I sent two copies of the letter to Mr. Edwards
to the Postmaster-General, by Mr. Thruston, requesting him to
forward one of them to Edwardsville, and the other in such
direction as that it might reach him as soon as possible.
In about an hour Southard returned from Calhoun's : while
he was there with Calhoun, Mrs. Calhoun had a daughter bom.
Calhoun agreed entirely in opinion with Southard and me. Mr.
George Hay soon came in, and brought a communication, from
the House of Representatives to the President, of the minutes
of the proceedings of the committee, among which is a vote
ordering the attendance of Mr. Edwards before them. I re-
turned again, and Mr. Southard also, to the President's. Mr.
Edwards's memorial, as presented to the House, with the ac-
companying documents, was there ; the Clerk of the House
having brought them, to be taken back to-morrow morning,
and printed, for which there is an order of the House. We
read the memorial through, and the documents specially re-
ferred to by numbers. It was impossible for me, after reading
them, not to reflect on the bias which the bullying temper and
management of Crawford's partisans, unresisted by the rest of
the House, have already given to this affair. The artifice of
representing Edwards as having fled from his own accusation,
has been used to divert the public attention from the merits of
his allegations, as yet with entire success. A prodigious stir is
made about catching him and bringing him here and prevent-
ing his escape ; all which is to excite odium against him as an
accuser, and to prepare for a whitewashing of Crawford. The
truth is, that for supporting all the allegations of Edwards in
his memorial his presence is in no wise necessary. He refers
for proofs to public documents, which sustain him to the utmost
extent; and nothing is necessary to establish them but to recur
to the documents themselves. The blindness of the House to
this affords no favorable augury to the justice or impartiality
of the final decision.
It was past five when we finished the reading of the memorial,
and the President directed us to attend again to-morrow at ten
o'clock, when he intends to send a message to the House, in
answer to theirs. I then returned again to my office, whence I
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302 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
found all the Clerks were gone. I made a triplicate copy of the
instruction to Mr. Edwards, and sent it under cover to Matthew
St Clair Clarke, the Clerk of the House of Representatives,
requesting him to forward it by the messenger appointed to
carry to Mr. Edwards the summons of the House. I received
late this evening an answer from Clarke, saying that the order
would be forwarded accordingly.
Mr. Moore came at seven o'clock this evening, according to
his appointment. He announced himself as the most intimate
friend but one to Mr. De Witt Clinton that he had in the
world. He wished that my friends and Mr. Clinton's friends
should harmonize; for the Clintonians would certainly turn
the scale in New York ; Mr. Clinton was against Mr. Crawford
for President, and wished for an honest man in that office ; that
Mr. Clinton's friends, until very lately, had thought they could
bring him forward with prospects of success, but they had now
given it up as hopeless ; that I was very strong in New York,
and the attempt to set up General Jackson would only termi-
nate in giving the vote to Crawford. His wish was that I
should be chosen President, and General Jackson Vice-Presi-
dent. But he wished to know what were my sentiments with
regard to Mr. Clinton.
I told him that whether the people of New York would vote
for me or not I should leave entirely to themselves ; that my
feelings towards Mr. Clinton were altogether friendly. I had
but a very slight personal acquaintance with him. There had
been some things in his public career that I had not approved,
and very probably some in mine that he had disapproved. But
I entertained a high opinion of his talents, his services, and his
public spirit, and was ashamed for my country at the recent act
of the Legislature of New York in removing him from the
office of Canal Commissioner. With this Mr. Moore professed
to be entirely satisfied, and took leave.
T. Fuller, member from Massachusetts, called late in the
evening. He asked if I had seen a piece in the New York
Patriot signed ^' Mercury." I had. It asserts that while my
friends are boasting of my purity and exemption from intrigue,
and pretending that I rejected with indignation a proposal
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from Mr. Crawford's friends to support me for the Vice-Presi-
dency, I had been guilty of the same corruption; for that
Fuller more than a year since had stated that I had authorized
him to offer the Vice-Presidency to Mr. Clay. Fuller was ex-
cessively incensed at this paltry electioneering squib, and said
he would compel the publisher of the Patriot to give up the
author of it or would prosecute him for a libel. He said it was
not only false, but there never had been anything which could
give rise to it; that I had never said one word to him about
supporting Clay for the Vice- Presidency — nor he to any human
being.
I advised him to be cool ; to cause to be published an explicit
contradiction of the falsehood, and if, upon demand, the author
would not avow himself, that would be enough; but that
political prosecutions for anything published in the newspapers
against a public man were, in this country, desperate remedies.
The juries always favored the slanderer.
Fuller said this was a charge of corruption. That, I said, if
he prosecuted, would be explained away. It would be said to
have been used only with reference to my supposed fastidious
purity. It would be said the fact charged, if true, was no evi-
dence of corruption ; that if I had authorized him to propose to
Mr. Clay*s friends to support him for the Vice-Presidency, there
would have been no corruption in it, and that, therefore, there
was no libel in the charge, although the matter stated as fact
was not true. I further said that although I never had author-
ized any man to make such a proposal to Clay, yet friends of
mine, and friends of Clay too, had often suggested it to me as
desirable ; nor is there anything in it unconstitutional, illegal,
or dishonorable. The friends of every one of the candidates
have sought to gain strength for their favorite by coalition with
the friends of others ; and to deny very indignantly an impu-
tation of that which is not wrong in itself, is giving the adver-
sary the advantage of fastening upon you a consciousness of
wrong where there is none. Fuller seemed still to think he
could get the author or publisher of the piece indicted ; but I
suppose he will not attempt it.
23d. I attended at the President's. Found Calhoun and
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304 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
Southard there. The President had the draft of a short mes-
sage prepared, announcing to the House of Representatives
that he had received their communication of their proceedings
on the memorial of N. Edwards, and had already in anticipa-
tion sent him an order not to proceed on his mission, but to
await the orders of the House. Two or three slight alterations
in the draft were made, and it was sent.
I then observed that it was my opinion Mr. Edwards ought,
immediately upon receiving the summons of the House, to re-
sign his office as Minister to Mexico, and attend solely to the
affair before the House till that should be entirely cleared up.
I wished him to have the opportunity of taking this step of
his own accord ; but if he should not, I wished the President
deliberately to consider the propriety of informally giving to
Mr. Edwards an intimation that the President expects he will
resign ; and if he does not, that the President would decide to
remove him.
Mr. Calhoun warmly objected to this, and said that if Ed-
wards should resign it would be universally considered that
he was conscious of being guilty, and the decision of the
House and of the nation would be against him. I answered
that I believed the effect of his resignation would be directly
the reverse ; that the sacrifice of his own interest would be the
strongest demonstration of his public spirit; that his cause
would be decided by the House and by the nation upon its
own merits, and not by his proceedings in relation to his mis-
sion abroad ; that my principal reason for thinking he ought
to resign was, because he could not discharge the duties of
the office. He could not proceed upon the mission. He was
arrested in consequence of his own acts. I meant not to pro-
nounce censure upon those acts. On the contrary, so far as I
knew the facts, I should have done precisely the same. But
they had put it out of his power to proceed upon his mission,
and therefore he ought to resign, to give the President the
power of sending another person in his place.
Calhoun replied that the final decision upon the questions
before the House would depend very much upon the incidents
which would occur during the investigation; that by resigning,
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Edwards would be universally thought to sink under the con-
sciousness of his own wrong; that there was no particular
occasion of urgency for the immediate departure of a Minister
to Mexico; that a year had been suffered to elapse between
the first appointment to that mission and the second ; that at
all events Mr. Edwards ought to be allowed the credit of making
his own option to resign ; that on his arriving it would imme-
diately be known whether his detention here would be long or
not. If it should continue over till the next session of Con-
gress, it might then be proper for him to resign. If on arriving
here he could not sustain his charges, he must resign or be
removed. If he could, there was no reason why he should not
afterwards proceed upon his mission.
The President said it was his opinion that Mr. Edwards
ought, immediately on receiving the summons of the House, to
resign ; that he would thereby entirely disengage himself and
the Executive from the imputation of ai concert together; he
would leave the Government free to make another appointment,
which ought not long to be delayed, the dispatching of the
mission having already been postponed more than comported
with the public interest ; that if he should resign, and upon his
arrival here he should be detained upon the summons of the
House only a short time, and sustain his own character, he
might be reappointed. But it would be best to leave him to
act upon his own sense of propriety ; and, as he must be ex-
pected here sooner than a letter could now reach him and his
answer be received, the determination whether he should be
removed, or an intimation should be given him to resign, might
be deferred. The President said that what passed in the Cabinet
meetings on this subject was of the most confidential character;
to which Mr. Calhoun confirmatively assented.
Southard said he had at first thought Edwards wrong for not
having returned here to make his charges, but upon examina-
tion of the facts and further reflection he thought otherwise.
Calhoun said that the statement in Crawford's report was
equivalent to a charge of perjury upon Edwards — as it cer-
tainly is; and, made as it was, no man having any regard for his
character could have endured it without reply and resentment
VOL. VI. — 20
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3o6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
But Calhoun thought that if Edwards was bound to resign he
ought to have done so immediately upon receiving notice of
Crawford's report; but it does not appear whether Edwards
received the notice before he left the city or after; his memo-
rial is dated Wheeling, 6th April, and a passage in it seems to
indicate information •which he must have received after leaving
the city.
I said Edwards was under orders to proceed to Mexico*
With his view of things, he might suspect that this imputation
upon him was an artifice for the purpose of compelling him to
resign. He was not certain that the House would act upon
his memorial at all. The first effort of Floyd was to have it
laid on the table. Edwards's allegations against Crawford are
all incidental to the defence of himself. He makes no formal
charge against Crawford. Suppose the House should have de-
cided that they would not act upon the memorial. Edwards
would have lost his place, and his character would still have
stood only upon the strength of his own allegations. I cannot,
therefore, disapprove the course he then took, but still think he
ought to resign upon receiving the summons of the House.
The meeting ended about one o'clock.
24th. W. Plumer, Jr., came to enquire if the commission of
Pearson Cogswell, as Marshal of New Hampshire, had been
forwarded to him. It has. Plumer spoke of this affair of
Edwards and Crawford, and said the impression was that a
majority of the committee were disposed to screen him from
this exposure. Among the rest, that was understood to be the
disposition of Webster. And, he said, Webster's conversation
had much of that complexion. He had said yesterday that
undoubtedly there had been deposits in the Western banks
contrary to law, but Mr. Crawford stated that they had been
made upon great advisement, by direction of the President, and
that the omission to report them had been a mere inadvertency.
Plumer said that McDuffie was very desirous of having the
whole subject referred to the President; which is the very
worst way in which it could be disposed of. McDuffie had
been with the President on the morning of the day before
yesterday, and had alarmed him into the sudden determination
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1824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, ^oy
of sending a message to the House, informing them that he
had sent to order Edwards to come here to attend before the
House. The Pijesident told me that he had been advised by
McDuflfie, and I told him that McDuffie's motive was to throw
off the whole subject from the House upon the President.
Plumer said he thought there was not a man in the House
who would have the spirit to probe the affair to the bottom and
expose it in its true colors. The most conclusive evidence of
this is, that the proof of all the allegations of Edwards has
been before Congress more than a year, and no notice has been
taken of it.
E. Wyer was here, and said that the denunciation of Mr.
Crawford by Mr. Edwards was producing very great excitement,
and the general sentiment was against Edwards. The secret
of this lies not deep, nor in one of the fairest regions of human
nature. Crawford has hold of many hopes and many fears,
Edwards has no control over either. One has a tremendous
influence over the interests of his judges, the other has none.
I took to the President's a new remonstrance against the
South Carolina law prohibiting colored people from coming
into the State. I urged upon the President the necessity of
doing something in this case. I said I saw nothing that could
be done except to lay the subject before Congress ; but, as a last
resource for avoiding that appeal, I left the letter with him, to
see if Mr. Poinsett, or the South Carolina delegation, could
devise any other way of getting rid of that law.
25th. After I returned home from church I began writing,
but G. Sullivan soon came in, and sat with me till past mid-
night. He talked upon all the topics now in agitation before
the public ; said he had a long conversation with the President
yesterday concerning the affair with Lowrie, and he thinks the
position of the President a painful one. To extricate him from
it, he thinks it necessary that General Jackson should publish
his letter which led to the controversy ; but Jackson, or rather
Eaton, who rules him, and whom Sullivan considers as a cold-
blooded, heartless man, will not consent to the publication ot
the letter, fearing that it will blow up Jackson in Pennsylvania ;
and Sullivan thinks it will.
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308 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QU/NCY ADAMS. [April,
I told him my opinion was, that when the whole affair should
come out, rational men would judge that there had been on all
sides, and by all the parties, much children's play; but that it
would not change five votes in Pennsylvania.
Sullivan said that a few days since, he was walking with For-
syth, and said to him, " Well, I suppose when the whole of this
Lowrie transaction shall be disclosed, Jackson will be entirely
prostrated in Pennsylvania." "Oh, certainly!" said Forsyth;
" and when we have done with him we shall take your friend
Adams in hand." Upon which Sullivan replied that they would
find nothing in me inconsistent with honor and integrity; to
which, he says, Forsyth declared his unqualified assent. This,
he remarked, was in Forsyth blowing hot and cold with the
same breath, Sullivan is now very anxious that my friends in
New England should support Calhoun for the Vice-Presidency,
because, he says, Calhoun earnestly desires it, and because,
since he (Sullivan) told him that all New England would vote
for Jackson as Vice-President, Calhoun has become cold as an
icicle to the Massachusetts claim. So that the claim is to pur-
chase the Vice-Presidency. To all this I answered nothing.
He said also that Forsyth had complained of the committee
appointed upon Edwards's memorial, and particularly of Web-
ster, who, he said, was unfriendly to Crawford. Forsyth knows
better, but there is policy in giving this out. Of the claim Mr.
Sullivan now spoke doubtingly, but he is to meet the committee
on Tuesday. He hopes for a favorable report this session.
26th. I desired the President to make his decision whether
to receive Mr. Rebello as Charge d'Affaires from the Emperor
of Brazil or not. The letter from C. Raguet, this day received,
contains information making it questionable whether the Em-
pire of Brazil ought as yet to be recognized as a Government
" de facto."
The President said he would read and send me back Raguet's
letter, and directed me to send it, and the other papers, round
to the members of the Administration previous to a meeting
for consideration of the question.
I spoke also of the permissions to General Dearborn and to
R. Rush to come home. The President said he wished Mr.
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Rush would remain in England till the close of the present
Administration, for that he felt great delicacy about proposing
to Mr. Gallatin to go to England. I said that Mr. Rush might
perhaps also have his particular views in wishing to return to
the United States during the present year, and that I hoped
there would be no interval between Mr. Rush's mission and
that of his successor. He said he doubted whether Mr.
Gallatin would accept the appointment to England, and had
thoughts of writing him a private and confidential letter to en-
quire. I advised him to take some further time to consider
of it. He authorized me to write a letter of recall to General
Dearborn — which I did.
28th. Richard M. Johnson, Senator from Kentucky, called
to renew recommendations of a person named Steele, as
Consul at Acapulco, in Mexico. He talked also upon general
politics, and told me, as an illustration of the extent to which
the system of *' espionage" of Crawford's partisans is now car-
ried, that he had lately been to Philadelphia, where he passed
two or three days. While there, he occasionally conversed
with persons whom he met on the prospects of the Presidential
election. Yesterday Van Buren accosted him with, *' So, you
have been electioneering at Philadelphia!'* and, upon being
asked what he meant, took out a letter and gave it him to
read, folding down the page so that he could not see the name
of the writer ; and this letter spoke of, and gave a false coloring
to, his conversations at Philadelphia.
Johnson spoke of the two controversies now before the na-
tion, between Edwards and Crawford and between W, Lowrie
and G. Hay. In the National Intelligencer of yesterday there
is a letter to the editors in reply to the last publication of
Lowrie, signed by Hay, and couched in language of extreme
bitterness and severity.
Johnson said he did not know what Lowrie could say to it,
as he was not a fighting man ; but he had looked very blue
upon it yesterday. As to the affair of Edwards, he said, there
was no doubt on his mind that Crawford had mismanaged the
public funds, and lost nearly a million of dollars to the public
by loose indulgences to the Western banks; but that as to
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3IO MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [April,
the particular continuance of the deposits in the Edwardsville
Bank, it was very much desired and promoted by Edwards
himself.
Mr. Addington, the British Charge d'Affaires, came twice,
and brought the second time a certified copy of the Conven-
tion for the suppression of the slave-trade, signed by Mr. Rush,
with Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Stratford Canning, on the 13th of
March. I received this morning a dispatch from Rush, dated
the 20th of March, a week after the conclusion of the Conven-
tion, and alluding to it, but not the Convention itself; for which
I know not how to account. Addington was greatly disap-
pointed on learning that I had not received the Convention;
and said he was instructed to urge its ratification with all pos-
sible dispatch, so that it might be sent back in time to be com-
municated to Parliament before the close of their session. The
copy was brought by the British packet, which came direct to
New York for that purpose. She was to sail in eight days for
Halifax ; but if there was a prospect that the ratification could
be dispatched hence by the 15th. he would detain the packet
till that time, and send her back direct to England without
going to Halifax at all. He read me several passages from a
letter of Mr. S. Canning to him, expressing earnestness that
the ratified Convention might be sent back as soon as possible,
as the session of Parliament would be unusually short. Ad-
dington said he had also received a fresh and very urgent in-
struction upon our discriminating duties between rolled and
hammered iron; of which he would call and speak to me to-
morrow. It threatens to lay heavier duties on our cotton,
because it is ginned, by considering it as a manufactured
article.
I said I thought that would dissolve the whole Convention
of 18 1 5. I took Mr. Addington's copy of the Slave-Trade Con-
vention to the President's, and there read it to him. It varies
in very few and quite unimportant particulars from that of
which I sent the draft to Mr. Rush last summer.
29th. I received the Convention for the suppression of the
slave-trade, signed the 13th of last month at London, with a
dispatch from R. Rush giving an account of the negotiation,
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and copies of the protocols, and of the counter-projet presented
by the British Plenipotentiaries. I took them over to the
President's, read to him the letter, and left with him the proto-
cols' and the counter-projet. The Convention, as concluded,
differs only in a very few unimportant particulars from the
draft which I sent to R. Rush last June. Mr. George Canning,
in his speech to Parliament on the i6th of March, represented
It as a mutual concession of the right of search. This being
republished in our newspapers, Mr. George Hay came to the
office this morning to enquire if it could possibly be so. I
told him it was so understood and represented by Mr. Can-
ning ; but it was a right of search only as incidental to a right
of capture for piracy — a right which is necessarily involved in
the right of capture for piracy by the law of nations.
The President asked me to draft a message to send to the
Senate with the Convention, and said he would send it in
to-morrow.
I took also to the President's a new application from Mr.
Silvestre Rebello to be received as Charge d'Affaires from the
Emperor of Brazil, with which he sent me a copy of the pro-
jected Constitution of the Empire. I had also received a long
letter of 8th and I2th March, from C. Raguet, exhibiting a
precarious and doubtful condition of things at Rio de Janeiro,
particularly the prospect of a blockade of Pernambuco with a
French naval force, the commander of which furnishes aid to
the Emperor of Brazil under the title of His Royal Highness
the Prince of Brazil.
The President directed me to send round these papers to the
members of the Administration, and to call a meeting at his
house the day after to-morrow, at noon.
After returning to the office, I drew up the message to be
sent to the Senate with the Convention. Mr. Addington came,
and I told him that I had received the Convention, which would
be sent in to the Senate to-morrow. He read me the dispatch
from Mr. Canning concerning the duties on rolled and hammered
iron, containing the delicate threat to overtax our cotton because
it is ginned. I told Addington I would make known the sub-
stance of this dispatch to members of Congress of both Houses.
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312 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
30th. I received this morning a note from Colonel John
Taylor, of Caroline, the Senator from Virginia, asking for the
introductory letters that I had promised to Mr. Roy. I called
upon him, and told him that I had sent the letters some days
since to Mr. Roy, at Gloster Court-House, according to his
directions. Taylor spoke also of other subjects, and expressed
a strong apprehension that the charges of Mr. Edwards against
Mr. Crawford will be decided not upon principles of justice,
but upon political expediency alone. This appears to be the
universal opinion.
May 1st. John Reed, a member of the House from Massa-
chusetts, came with a letter claiming the interposition of the
Government for the recovery of certain money seized in Mexico.
I told him I would write to the Consul at Alvarado concerning
it. Reed said he was soon going home, and spoke of the Presi-
dential election. He is a federalist, but he says that two thirds
of his constituents are Republicans. He professed to be very
friendly to me, but intimated an opinion that it would ulti-
mately be necessary for my friends to unite with those of Mr.
Crawford. I told him there was nothing to be expected from
that, but he said the assurances from the friends of Mr. Craw-
ford were very strongly otherwise. I said that I had under-
stood that a systematic effort was making to unite the federal
party in Massachusetts in favor of Mr. Crawford, and that the
great struggle of the federalists at the recent State election for
Governor was connected with that purpose. He said it was not
a general feeling, but that some of the federalists favored Mr.
Crawford from an apprehension that my prejudices against
them were so strong, that in the event of my election they
would be altogether* proscribed.
I asked him if he thought there was a doubt of my election
by a large majority of the electoral votes but for an opposition
from the Republican party on the very ground of my being
suspected of too much federalism. He said there was not. I
told him I had originally been a federalist, just such as Presi-
dent Washington had been. But of the course that had been
pursued by the federalists during and preceding the late war
my opinion was well known, and had been fully manifested by
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my conduct. Personally, the federalists had done me wrong,
and I expected no favor from them. But during the whole of
the present Administration it had been at least as much sup-
ported by the federalists as by the Republicans. If it should
be the pleasure of the people of the United States that I should
serve them as their President. I should be the President not
of a section, nor of a faction, but of the whole Union. If the
federalists chose, as a body, to array themselves against me, I
should not complain, and very probably they might prevent my
election. Possibly their opposition, however, might strengthen
me in the opposite party, and if, after a combined and continued
movement against me, I should still be elected, they must be
aware how much the difficulty would be increased of favoring
them with Appointments without disgusting those of the oppo-
site party claiming the merit of friendly support against them.
He was aware of all this, and said that he should endeavor
to secure the choice in his district of an elector favorable to
me. He said there was an appearance of opposition to me in
the Old Colony greater than in any other part of the State ; the
reason of which he did not know. But he had heard yester-
day one of the Republican members say that if two of the
federal members from Massachusetts should be for me, that
would be sufficient. This had displeased him. Why should
only two be wanted ? Why not the whole ?
I said I supposed the motive for that observation was with
reference to a majority of the whole delegation. I knew not
how any of the federal members from Massachusetts would
vote, but I had supposed that Nelson, Dwight, Reed himself,
Locke, and Allen would be for me — and probably Lathrop.
Webster I considered as doubtful, and Baylies as certainly
against me. He said Baylies might possibly change if all the
rest of the delegation should be united ; but he was certainly
very much against me, having some connection with a nail-
manufactory in Bristol County in which H. G. Otis has an
interest. His rancor against me, therefore, is derivative from
Otis. Reed declared himself entirely satisfied with this con-
versation, which, he said, he had been for some time desirous
of having with me.
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314 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
I attended the Cabinet meeting at the President's at noon.
The question with regard to the recognition of the Emperor
of Brazil, and the reception of Mr. Rebello as his Charge
d'Affaires, was again discussed. The information from Brazil,
from Lisbon, from France, and from Europe generally, war-
rants a strong suspicion that the soi-disant Emperor of Brazil
is in secret concert with his father, and with France, to sink
back into a Portuguese Prince of Brazil, and to restore the
Portuguese dominion in that country. There is resistance also
against the imperial domination in Brazil itself, and he had
declared a blockade of Pernambuco, assisted by a French force.
I mentioned also the letter I had received from W. Bezeau,
styling himself late a captain in the U. S. Army, warning me
of this Mr. Rebello as of a suspicious character.* I advised
that I should be directed to send for him and in a conciliatory
manner inform him that it is thought best to delay for some
time the formal reception of him ; and this was finally deter-
mined without opposition.
The President intimated a disposition to send a message to
Congress in secret session, communicating all the various ex-
citing letters and dispatches which have lately been received.
It is all indefinite alarm.
I observed that unless such a communication to Congress
should be made with the intention of recommending to them
something to do, it would only increase the excitement already
existing. Mr. Calhoun concurred in that opinion.
At the office I drafted a form of ratification for the Con-
vention now before the Senate. As I was returning from
the President's after the meeting, I met Mr. Crawford, who
was going to it. He said he had not received the notice to
attend it till within half an hour.
2d. I called at Mr. Fuller's lodgings, and saw him. He goes
for home to-morrow morning. Fuller read to me letters from
Mr. Sedgwick, and from H. Wheaton, respecting the publication
signed " Mercury," in the New York Patriot, charging Fuller
with having stated that I had authorized him to offer the
Vice-Presidency to Mr. Clay. Gardner, the editor of the Patriot,
has published the denial of Fuller, but paltered and equivocated
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in the manner of publishing the denial, and stated in the paper
that the author of "Mercury" would communicate directly to
Mr. Fuller himself. He told Sedgwick that *' Mercury" would
write to Fuller by the same mail ; but Fuller has received no
letter from him, and he will doubtless continue to lurk. Fuller
suspects Jonathan Russell ; but I do not.
He spoke of Clay, who, he says, is now quite flushed with
hopes, and told Crowninshield that he was already sure of
eight States, and should be elected. He plays brag, as he
has done all his life. Fuller said he would see D. P. Cook this
evening. I told him Cook had not called to see me since the
presentation of N. Edwards's address to the House, and prob-
ably had his reasons for avoiding it. I had not sought him ;
I had heard Cook's intention was to take no part in this trans-
action in the House — which was very well, unless he .should
find it necessary to sustain the character of Mr. Edwards. I
had strong presentiments that it would be so, and, in friendship
for Mr. Edwards, wished that Cook might be fully aware of the
predicament in which he may be placed, and prepared for it.
3d. Mr. John Reed, member from Massachusetts, came for a
further conversation upon the subject on which we had spoken
last Saturday. He had since then seen and talked with Web-
ster, and had asked him to see and talk with me ; which he had
declined. He said that Webster had expressed apprehensions
that in the event of my election there would be a general pro-
scription of federalists from office, and intimated that he could
not favor a system by which such men as Jeremiah Mason,
of New Hampshire, and Joseph Hopkinson, of Pennsylvania,
should be excluded from the public service. Reed said he did
not believe that I should act upon any such principle, but did
not tell Webster that he had conversed with me. I told Reed
that with regard to individuals it was impossible for me to give
any pledge whatever. I had no personal acquaintance with
Mr. Mason, but knew him by reputation as a man of fine
talents and highly respectable character. Mr. Hopkinson was,
and had been for many years, my personal friend. I consider
them both as well qualified for the public service, and never,
under any circumstances, would I be made the instrument of
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3l6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
a systematic exclusion of such men from it. With regard to
Mr. Webster, I knew that lures had been held out to him from
other quarters — even from that which assumed the livery of
exclusive and patent republicanism ; the caucus chief, avow-
edly proclaimed in the address of his partisans as to be sup-
ported on party grounds alone. I knew there was a negotiation
going on between that very party and the Massachusetts
federalists, and I knew the men by whom it was conducted.
How far Mr. Webster was connected with it I did not know.
If he thought proper to join in the concerted plan of opposi-
tion to me, I must abide by the issue; I had no favors to
ask of him ; but if he should take that course I believed he
would fail, even in the object of carrying the Massachusetts
federalists with him. Reed said he thought so too, but he
did not believe that Webster had committed or would commit
himself upon the subject. Reed appeared also to place great
reliance upon South Carolina; in which, I told him, he would
find himself mistaken — the object of the South Carolina dele-
gation being to get all possible aid from my friends without
yielding anything in return. Whatever it was in Mr. Cal-
houn's power to transfer he had transferred to General Jack-
son, and now his friends were seeking support both from
Jackson and from me.
Reed said that Gist and Wilson, the two members who
attended the caucus and were for Crawford, openly avowed
that in the event of his being withdrawn they would be for
me; that he counted further upon Poinsett, Hamilton, and
Carter in the House, and Hamilton had told him that Jack-
son's votes for the tariff would lose him the electoral votes of
South Carolina.
I had no faith in this, and assured Reed he might depend
that nothing was to be expected from South Carolina. As
supporters of the present Administration, however, I wished
to be upon the best possible terms with them, without expect-
ing anything from them for the future.
Mr. Addington came, and asked of the progress of the Con-
vention before the Senate. I told him they would probably
get through it in the course of this week. He spoke also of a
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correspondence between Commodore Porter and Sir Edward
Owen of a delicate character, and which he had heretofore
informally mentioned to Mr. Southard, the Secretary of the
Navy. He is now to address me officially concerning it.
Something was also said of the transactions recently at Algiers,
and Addirigton spoke very gratefully of Shaler^s proceedings,
both now and heretofore.
Mr. Rufus King, Senator from New York, called, and con-
versed upon various topics, i. The Convention. He says no
opposition to it is contemplated in the Senate, but the papers
are not yet printed, and the tariff absorbs all the interest and
feeling of the Senate at this time. Ten States are inflexible
on each side of the question, four fluctuating, and the issue
altogether doubtful. King himself is against the tariff, and very
highly excited. 2. The Edwards and Crawford controversy. He
says the issue of the whole depends upon the firmness and incor-
ruptible integrity of Webster, who told him he was determined
there should be a thorough investigation of the subject. King,
at Webster's desire, has written to Mason, of New Hampshire,
and to R. Stockton, of New Jersey, to ask a free communication
of their views as to the propriety of a complete investigation.
He has not yet received the answer of either of them. King
plainly told Webster that it depended upon him whether this
affair should be laid open in all its true colors, or smothered
as it has been twice before. King says that Van Buren told
him that General McArthur, one of the members of the com-
mittee, had said to a third person that he had examined all the
documents, and satisfied himself that Mr. Crawford was a per-
fectly honest man.
5th. Mr. Rebello came, as I had last evening, at my house,
requested that he would. I told him the grounds upon which
the President had concluded to delay for some time the recep-
tion of him as Charge d*Affaires from the Emperor of Brazil.
The information received from Lisbon that France was actively
negotiating there ; the blockade of Pernambuco, announced by
the Government of Rio de Janeiro itself, recognizing a formal
resistance in Brazil against that Government ; the acceptance
of a French naval force, offered as to ** His Royal Highness
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3l8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
the Prince of Brazil," to reduce Pernambuco, and symptoms
indicated on the part of the Emperor himself to restore the
Portuguese authority in Brazil, all concurring with the fact that
the Constitution formed by the Emperor's authority had not
yet been sworn to by him, were inducements for postponing
a decision here ; it might be, however, only for a Very short
time, as the course of events might even in a few days remove
the equivocal appearances which left doubts of the establish-
ment of an independent Government in Brazil.
He appeared to be much disappointed, and said there was
no foundation for the suspicion that Brazil was not finally and
irrevocably independent of Portugal. He denied that the Em-
peror had suffered himself to be treated as " His Royal High-
ness the Prince of Brazil" by the commander of the French
squadron, and declared that the offer of aid from that officer to
blockade Pernambuco had not been accepted. He said they
had made war upon Portugal. They had stationed a frigate
off" Lisbon, which had made several captures of Portuguese
vessels, which had been condemned in Brazil. He knew not
how the security of independence could be more firmly main-
tained. He wished that the United States might be the first
to recognize the independence of Brazil. The formation of an
American system, under the auspices of the United States, to
counteract the European system, was very desirable, and must
necessarily give an ascendency to the influence of the United
States in Brazil and throughout America — an influence which
both France and Britain were assiduously laboring to antici-
pate. The commercial relations between the United States
and Brazil were already important, and were increasing. He
wished that the political relations between them might be of
the most friendly and harmonious character, and regretted that
the hesitation and delay of recognition would have a tendency
to produce a coolness in the sentiments of the two nations
towards each other.
I replied that I would report the substance of his observa-
tions to the President, and would then further communicate
with him ; that in the mean time every attention would be
paid to any representation that he should make upon subjects
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which he had in charge from his Government. He said that,
as the session of Congress was drawing towards a close, he
regretted the length of time which must pass before he could
receive a definitive answer.
I said that the recognition and his reception might as well
take place during the recess of Congress as while they are in
session.
He observed that I had mentioned to him that his written
narrative and representations to me would be communicated
to Congress.
I said, certainly ; but that if he should be received during
the recess they would be sent to Congress at the commence-
ment of the next session.
He asked me if I would give him an answer to the notes he
had addressed to me in writing.
I said if he wished it I would take the directions of the
President in that respect, and was not aware that he would
have any objection. We had supposed that he himself might
prefer that the assignation of our reasons for delaying his recep-
tion should be given verbally rather than in writing.
He asked if I had not given written answers to the Spanish
South American Agents before the recognition of their Govern-
ments.
I said I had sometimes, and sometimes had answered only
verbally. I would, however, take the directions of the Presi-
dent, and very shortly let him know the result. Immediately
after he left me I went to the President's, and made him a full
report of what had passed between us. I found the President!
strongly inclined to receive him. He said that the essential '
principle for us was the point of independence. The form of '
government was not our concern, and by avoiding to meddle
with it we should come less in collision with the European
powers. I had received this morning from C. Raguet a dupli-
cate of his letter of 8th March, with an additional postscript of
the 24th, saying that the Emperor was to take the oath to the
Constitution the next day, and that all was tranquil ; no addi-
tions to the French squadron, of which the letter of the 8th
had announced fifteen vessels as an expected reinforcement of
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320 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
the four which had arrived. The President concluded to sus-
pend for a few days more his determination.
6th. At the office, G. B7 English came again, having seen
the President this morning. English enquired whether it was
thouglit advisable to accept the proposition made to him by
the Capitan Pasha — which was, that in the course of the en-
suing summer, when he should be in command of the Turkish
squadron in the Mediterranean, the commander of the Amer-
ican squadron there should be authorized to meet him and
make to him such proposals for a treaty as the American
Government might desire. He would then communicate them
directly to the Sultan, and, if he should approve them, the
treaty might be concluded before any of the European powers
should have any knowledge of the transaction.
This expedient is devised to evade the interference of the
Ministers of European powers, especially of Great Britain, to
prevent a treaty; which would be inevitable if the attempt to
negotiate one should be made at Constantinople.
I observed to English that the resort to this mode of
negotiation was liable to objections; the most prominent of
which was suggested by his own dispatches. It appeared from
these that the Reis Effendi, the Ottoman Minister of Foreign
Affairs, entertained already some suspicion of this design,
and was probably exasperated against it, so that English
had considered himself for some time in personal danger,
and doubtful whether he should get safely away from the
country.
He said that was true. But the Capitan Pasha had been
for several years the avowed and acknowledged patron of the
American nation at the Porte. An overture might therefore
be made through him directly to the Sultan, without encroach-
ing upon the Department of the Reis EfTendi. And this over-
ture could not be more advantageously made than by an
apparently casual meeting between him and the commander
of the American .squadron in the Mediterranean. Its success
would depend upon the light in which it would be viewed by
the Sultan ; and the Capitan Pasha must be purchased by the
usual presents in case of success.
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I told English that the President would reflect upon the
subject, and come to his determination as soon as possible.
He asked me if he could flatter himself with an expectation
of further employment, and said he had been for many years
habituated to consider me as his patron and friend.
I said it would always give me pleasure to serve him. but
I could promise him nothing at this time. If any occasion
should present itself of giving him a suitable occupation, I
would not be unmindful of him.
7th. Mr. George Hay and Mr. Mosher called, and, it being a
stormy morning. Hay said they had come with a view to avert
a storm from me; that there was much uneasiness and excite-
ment in the public mind upon this Convention recently con-
cluded with Great Britain, in which, it was said, the mutual
right of search at sea had been conceded ; insomuch that a
meeting had been called at Baltimore to memorialize the Senate
against the ratification of it. They both asked a number of
questions concerning it, which I answered by giving them the
necessary explanations.
The causes of this ebullition are two. The first, a state-
ment made by George Canning in Parliament, that in this Con-
vention the right of search was mutually conceded ; and this
statement, made by him as a gilding to the pill, of a bill to
make the slave-trade piracy the sine qua non and preliminary
to the concession of the mutual right of capture, and conse-
quent right of visitation and search — which bill he was then
to introduce and carry through Parliament — is the first and as
yet the only knowledge which our people have of this Con-
vention; it having been circulated by paragraphs in all our
newspapers.
The second is the keen and eager look-out of my political
opponents at this moment for anything that may serve as a
missile weapon against me. They have thus snatched at this
Jesuitical statement of Canning, and, without seeing the Con-
vention, endeavor to raise a popular clamor against me for
conceding the right of search.
Mr. Addington, the British Charge d'Affaires, came with a
copy of an instruction to him from Mr. George Canning, and
VOL. VI. — 21
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322 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
its enclosure, the Act of Parliament as passed on the 31st of
March, making the slave-trade piracy. They were sent by an
extra packet, dispatched for the special purpose of bringing out
the Act, and which has arrived at Annapolis. Mr. Addington
had sent me this morning a dispatch from R. Rush, of ist
April, enclosing a printed copy of the bill, as it had passed the
House of Lords the preceding day, and a private letter of
the 2d. Addington was inquisitive as to the sentiments of this
Government with regard to the correspondence between Com-
modore Porter and Sir Edward Owen.
I told him, in my private judgment, Porter and Gregory were
wrong, but what the sentiments of the Government might be
I must wait the instructions of the President to tell him. The
main point of Addington's complaint was, the evil tendency of
Gregory's making the public conduct of an officer in another
service the ground of a personal quarrel. This is certainly
wrong. But the mischief at the bottom is the practice of duel-
ling ; and if I should now make this a case for strong censure,
either upon Gregory or Porter, it would infallibly be set down
to the account of Presidential electioneering. So whimsical is
the operation of accidental coincidences in human affairs.
I told Addington that I heard it was probable there would
be opposition to the ratification of the Convention in the Senate.
He said he knew there would ; that it would be opposed by
General Jackson and Mr. Macon. I took to the President's
the dispatches received from England, and reported to him Mr.
Addington's remarks. He seemed undetermined what to do
with the complaint against Porter and Gregory', and a little
uneasy at the opposition in the Senate to the ratification of the
Slave-Trade Piracy Convention. He said he thought it very
important, not only in itself, but as indicating to the European
Holy Alliance an understanding upon that great interest be-
tween the United States and Great Britain. He directed that
copies of the papers this day received from England should be
sent to-morrow to the Senate.
Evening, Attended a party at Colonel Tayloe's — a wed-
ding-ball. I spoke there to Governor Barbour and Mr. R.
King of the Convention. King approves it, but Barbour, a
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caucus man, seemed very coolly disposed towards it. Mercer,
however, who was also there, was for it with all his enthu-
siasm, and told me that until the Convention came the fault
he had found with my part of the negotiation was that I had
insisted upon too much from Great Britain, though he was
now satisfied that I had taken the best course. R. King told
me that he had received an answer to the letter he had men-
tioned to me as having written to R. Stockton, and had sent it
to Mr. Webster. It expressed the opinion that it would depend
upon Webster alone whether the enquiry instituted by this
committee should be a real investigation or a delusion. Web-
ster, in returning this letter to Mr. King, .said the writer had
been mistaken ; that a majority of the committee were deter-
mined to make a thorough and judicial investigation of the
charges.
8th. Mr. McLean, the Postmaster-General, called. He wrote
me, some days since, a letter asking my opinion upon the sub-
ject of internal improvement, and a copy of the resolution
offered by me to the Senate on the 23d of February, 1807. I
answered his letter, and he now came to ask my leave to send
a copy of my answer to his brother, in the State of Ohio. I
told him I had no objection, but wished him only not to suffer
it to get into the newspapers, as that would look too much like
advertising my opinions. He said he would take care of that
His brother is one of the names on the proposed electoral ticket
for Ohio, and writes that he is sanguine of success. We know
so little of that in futurity which is best for ourselves, that
whether I ought to wish for success is among the greatest
uncertainties of the election. Were it possible to look with
philosophical indifference to the event, that is the temper of
mind to which I should aspire; but
** Who can hold a fire in his hand
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?"
To suffer without feeling is not in human nature ; and when
I consider that to me alone, of all the candidates before the
nation, failure of success would be equivalent to a vote of cen-
sure by the nation upon my past service, I cannot dissemble to
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324 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
myself that I have more at stake upon the result than any other
individual in the Union. Yet a man qualified for the elective
Chief Magistracy of ten millions of people should be a man
proof alike to prosperous and to adverse fortune. If I am able
to bear success, I must be tempered to endure defeat. He
who is equal to the task of serving a nation as her chief ruler
must possess resources of a power to serve her even against
her own will. This is the principle that I would impress in-
delibly upon my own mind, and for the practical realization
of which in its proper result I look to wisdom and strength
from above.
loth. Dr. Thornton called upon me this morning, to say that
he had prepared a book to be deposited in the Congress library
at the Capitol, to contain the subscriptions of all persons in the
service of the United States, at Washington, for the Greeks.
His project was that every individual would subscribe one day's
pay. He had requested the subscription of the President, who
told him he would consult the members of his Administra-
tion upon the propriety of his subscribing. The Doctor hoped
I should advise him to do it. The Secretaries of War and
the Navy had said they would subscribe if the President and
I did. Lord Eldon, the English Chancellor, had subscribed
a hundred pounds sterling, and even the Quakers in England
had subscribed upwards of seven thousand pounds. The
Greeks were in great want of it, and in deep distress. There
was a tremendous force of Turks going against them; but
the Bashaw of Egypt had declared himself independent of the
Sultan, and there was no doubt that, by the diversion he would
make, the cause of the Greeks would be triumphant.
I told him he ought to have a subscription-book number two
for the Bashaw of Egypt ; at which he laughed, and said, yes,
it would be very proper.
But, to answer seriously his question, I told him I should
not subscribe for the Greeks, nor advise the President to sub-
scribe. We had objects of distress to relieve at home more
than sufficient to absorb all my capacities of contribution ; and
a subscription for the Greeks would, in my view of things, be
a breach of neutrality, and therefore improper.
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The Doctor said he was very sorry to find in me, instead of
an assistant, as he expected, an opponent, and urged all the
arguments of the crusading spirit applicable to the case ; but I
was inflexible.
While he was flourishing for the Greeks and their cause.
T. H. Benton, Senator from Missouri, came in, and introduced
the Reverend Salmon Giddings, of St. Louis, who had a sub-
scription-book for building a Presbyterian church at that place.
I subscribed for that instead of the Greeks.
nth. Mr. H. G. Burton called with Mr. Mann, who is to go
as an informal Agent to Guatemala! Mr. Mann had seen the
President, and made many enquiries concerning the character
of his Agency, the objects to which it would be devoted, and its
probable duration ; also the manner how he was to obtain a
conveyance to the place of his destination. He said he wanted
to return home to North Carolina for about a fortnight before
his departure; and I told him that during that time I would
endeavor to prepare his instructions. I also promised to enquire
if there was a public vessel in which he could have a passage.
He spoke of his baggage and library, as being desirous of
taking them with him. These private economies of our public
Ministers and Agents are among the most disagreeable append-
ages to my public duties. I told him of the principal objects
of his mission ; that the first of them was to obtain and trans-
mit informatjpn respecting the country to which he was going
— a new central South American and, as it would seem, con-
federated republic, situated at and including the Isthmus of
Panama, a position of the highest geographical importance —
important also by the commercial connections, and lodgments
on the soil by the British, with the neighboring bay of Hon-
duras and Mosquito shore. It was furthermore interesting
from the step at one time taken by the province of St. Sal-
vador, now forming a portion of the republic, to connect itself
directly with the United States. It was understood that one
of the deputies who came here on that occasion was now,
or recently had been, at the head of the new Guatemalan
Government. By the public newspapers it appeared that
they had appointed a public Agent or Minister to come to
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326 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
the United States. The repubhc bordered upon those of
Mexico, Colombia, and Peru; but our information concern-
ing it was scanty, and we expected to receive much from his
Agency.
1 2th. I had received a note from S. Smith, Chairman of the
Committee of Finance of the Senate, requesting me to meet
them at the Capitol at nine o'clock this morning. They had a
bill from the House of Representatives creating five millions
of dollars stock, at an interest of four and a half per cent, to
pay the awards of the Commissioners under the Florida Treaty.
The committee wished to ask my opinion upon the construc-
tion of the provisions in the eleventh article of the treaty. Mr.
King, of New York, had written me a note last evening stating
the purport of their enquiry. The committee were Smith, of
Maryland, Macon, Holmes, of Maine, King, of New York, and
Lowrie. The eleventh article stipulates that the United States
would pay the awards to the amount of five millions of dollars,
either immediately from the Treasury, or in stock at six per
cent., payable from the proceeds of the sales of the lands, or
in any other manner that Congress might direct.
The questions were two : first, was the payment in any other
manner as a third alternative applicable to both the prior mem-
bers of the sentence, or only an alternative for the payment
of the stock otherwise than by the proceeds of the lands? the
second, whether the interest as well as the principal might be
made payable from the proceeds of the lands ; which included
the question whether Congress might not postpone the pay-
ment, and even the allowance of the interest, till they should
choose to open land offices ; involving also the question
whether, if the lands should not fetch five millions, Congress
would be bound to pay more, whether principal or interest,
than they would fetch.
I told the committee they were aware that treaties must
speak for themselves, and that ever}' other person was as com-
petent to construe their stipulations as the negotiator of them.
With this preliminary remark, I could tell them what I had
intended in drawing the articles. It was that Congress should
pay the five millions, in cash or in stock, at their option ; and
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if in Stock, from the proceeds of lands, or in any other man-
ner ; but in some manner.
As to the question what was to be done if the proceeds of
the lands fall short of the five millions, there had never entered
such a thought into my mind. Whether correctly or not, I
had believed, nor harbored a doubt, that the lands would sell
for more than double the five millions.
The committee spoke also of the question concerning the
discrimination between the duties on rolled and hammered
iron as bearing on the Tariff bill ; but this was merely inci-
dental. After about an hour's interview with the committee,
they dismi.ssed me, and I went into the Senate-chamber just as
they were meeting for the day.
The Vice-President took tl^e chair, and they proceeded upon
the Tariff bill. Motions for removing the discrimination be-
tween rolled and hammered iron, and for prohibiting rolled
iron, were made and discussed, and finally withdrawn. Then
various other amendments were proposed and disposed of; and
the question upon the passage of the bill to a third reading
was taken by yeas and nays — ^twenty-five and twenty-two. The
Senate then went into the consideration of Executive business,
and I passed into the House of Representatives, where they
were occupied on various bills of minor importance. I remained
there until the adjournment, between three and four o'clock.
Many of the members came and spoke with me — some upon
affairs of their own, and others upon those of their friends.
Crowninshield came, and told me he was very much afraid of
Rhode Island's going wrong, and had been endeavoring to
prevail upon Knight to take a warm and decided part, but
he seemed to hang back. I told him Knight co?ild not take a
decided part until he should ascertain which side would be
strongest. He was elected by a majority of a single vote to
the Senate. To obtain that, his colleague, De Wolfe, says he
made positive promises which he has now violated. De Wolfe
says also that Knight urged him to attend the caucus, by tell-
ing him that, if he did not. Bates would be renominated and
appointed Collector at Bristol. Knight's propensities were to
Crawford, but he would endeavor to secure influence to himself
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328 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May.
with the next Administration by finally coming out for him
who may succeed. There was more hope of De Wolfe than
of him. Crowninshield said Knight had told him De Wolfe
was for Crawford. I said that might be, but I did not believe
it; his bias was otherwise; although I had no doubt he too
would finally go with the majority. Crowninshield still thought
he could do something with Knight, and I told him he might,
if he pleased, renew his experiment.
Knight and Hayne and Van Buren afterwards came in from
the Senate, where they had laid upon the table the Slave-Trade
Convention. Crawfordism has taken the alarm lest this con-
cert between the United States and Great Britain for suppress-
ing the slave-trade should turn to a concert for the abolition of
slavery. Knight told me he thought the duration of the Con-
vention was too long, and that it should be limited. Hayne
asked if, in case the Convention should be ratified without limi-
tation, we could afterwards repeal the law making the slave-
trade piracy, and thereby annul the Convention. I thought
we could not. Van Buren said he thought we could.
13th. There was a Cabinet meeting at the President's at one
o'clock. Mr. Crawford, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Southard were
present. The question was again upon the expediency of
receiving Mr. Silvestre Rebello as Charge d'Affaires from the
Emperor of Brazil. The advice from Mr. Raguet of 24th
March, that the Emperor was to take the oath to the Constitu-
tion the next day, and the later accounts in the newspapers
that he actually had done so, removed some of the obstacles
which there had been at the last meeting to an immediate
recognition of the Brazilian Empire. Mr. Wirt, who had then
been the principal objector, was now not present, and Mr.
Crawford, then absent, now declared himself decisively for the
immediate reception of Rebello. He said we had nothing to
do with their forms of government. It was our principle not
to intermeddle with them, and we could not justify delaying
the recognition of the Brazilian Government on that account.
I suggested the propriety of a nomination of Raguet as
Charge d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro immediately after the
reception of Mr. Rebello, and of a message to Congress pro-
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posing an appropriation for a Charge d'AfFaires to that Govern-
ment.
The President seemed to think that no message to Congress
would be necessary, but expressed himself willing to make the
nomination to the Senate. He recurred to the decision in the
autumn of 1817, that the power of recognizing foreign Govern-
ments was necessarily implied in that of receiving Ambassadors
and public Ministers; though at the same time it was deter-
mined that the exercise of that power would not be expedient
without good assurance that both Houses of Congress would
in sentiment concur with the Executive upon the propriety
of the measure. It will be well yet to reflect upon the most
prudent course of proceeding in this case.
14th. Mr. R. King called this morning on me, and said he
was apprehensive it would be absolutely necessary for the
Senate to annex in some form a limitation to the Slave-Trade
Convention now before them. He was much averse to it him-
self, and thought it very absurd. But there was no reasoning
with fear. The members from some of the Southern States
had taken a panic at the late speeches in the British Parliament
looking to the abolition of slavery, and were exceedingly ad-
verse to forming any concert with the British Government
whatever in reference to the subject of slavery. The question
was, whether the limitation should be for a term of years, or
that the Convention may at any time be annulled on either
side by giving a notice of days or months.
I said, of the two evils the limitation for a term of years
would be the least; but either would be highly pernicious;
that it would defeat the joint attempt to influence other nations
to make the slave-trade piracy. For how absurd that we should
try to prevail upon all other nations to declare it piracy, when
they might retort upon us that we have shrunk from our own
obligations, and made it a piracy for a term of years, reserving
ourselves the right of repealing our own law! I said, also,
that any limitation would be peculiarly ungracious from us, the
whole project being our own, and adopted at our instance by
Great Britain ; of all which Mr. King himself is fully sensible.
At the office, I found Albert H. Tracy, member of the
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330 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
House from New York, who sat and conversed with me an
hour or more upon political topics generally. His object
seemed to be to ascertain how the Presidential canvass stood,
particularly in Connecticut, the Legislature of which is now in
session. Tracy appeared to be convinced that the report of
the Committee of Investigation would entirely justify Crawford,
and in substance, if not in words, condemn Edwards. He
thought they would even do this without waiting for Edwards
to be here, although they have sent for him. And he said
perhaps it would be the best thing that could happen for
Edwards; because, after it was effected, the manifest injustice
of it would turn the public mind in his favor.
Mr. Addington. the British Charge d'Affaires, came to speak
of the Slave-Trade Convention, and of the duties up>on iron.
He was much disconcerted at the unexpected opposition to the
/ Convention in the Senate; at which I am not less mortified.
As to the iron. I told him the removal of the discrimination
was impossible; and that the ground taken for rejecting it
would be that we receive rolled iron from other countries as
well as from England — as appears from the returns of com-
merce for the last year, under Sanford's law.
iSth. W. Plumer, a member from New Hampshire, was here
this morning. He said Webster had spoken to him yesterday,
and intimated that the committee would report altogether in
favor of Mr. Crawford ; that upon the charges of Mr. Edwards
he had substantially justified himself, and there was no ground
for censure, at least of a serious nature, upon him; that as to
his charge upon Edwards, they considered that as a personal
affair, into which they would not enter; it was a quarrel be-
tween two individual officers of the Government, which Con-
gress were under no necessity of deciding. As this decision
would bear heavily upon Edwards, he and Cook would be
wanting to mingle the Presidential question with it, and to
get the friends of the other candidates to oppose the report in
the House and censure it without-doors. But it was best to
separate it from the Presidential question altogether, and to
let Edwards fall upon his own demerits. And it was desirable
that the editors of the newspapers friendly to me should have
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a hint to take that course, representing the whole affair as the
report will do, and leave Edwards to his fate.
I said the committee might report to the House with regard
to the charges against Mr. Crawford as favorably as they could.
His defence with regard to the management of the public funds
was strong ; that against the charge of withholding and sup-
pressing documents, with the exception of the case of D. B.
Mitchell's negro smuggling, upon which he says nothing, is
plausible, and, with a spirit of liberality and candor, may be
accepted as sufficient. Some circumstances which had a sus-
picious appearance, and upon which Edwards in his charges
emphatically dwelt, are fully explained. He himself had in
substance retracted a great portion of the indirect and am-
biguous charge of perjury against Edwards, made in his report
to the House of Representatives of 22d March last. But he
has not retracted the whole of it, and, although he has adduced
argument and circumstantial evidence to prove that he did
not, in 1819, receive Edwards's publication in the St. Louis
Enquirer, he has not explicitly denied it, nor has he given any
sufficient reason for making that attack upon Edwards. That
attack was the first public blow in the quarrel, and if Edwards
had the feelings of a man it was impossible he should not
return it. To sacrifice Edwards is not the way for the com-
mittee or the House to avoid taking part in this quarrel. I
desired Plumer to say to Mr. Webster that, far from inducing
any friends of mine to countenance such a report, I should
consider it as the most revolting injustice; that if the com-
mittee meant to do justice between man and man, they ought
to direct the attendance of Mr. Crawford before them, put him
upon oath to answer whether he did or did not receive, in the
autumn of 1819, the publication of Mr. Edwards in the news-
paper, either from Edwards himself, or from Stephenson, the
Receiver of public moneys, and President of the Edwardsville
Bank. Whatever else Mr. Crawford in his reply had justified,
he had not even palliated his attack upon Edwards. And if A^
should be sacrificed by the report of the committee, they would
only make themselves the tools of Mr. Crawford's resentments.
I should give no countenance, directly or indirectly, to that.
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332 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
He said he understood that Livingston was drawing the re-
port, and Webster was to revise it. Randolph went off the day
before yesterday, for England, and Floyd is sick, Livingston
and Webster were making up the report between themselves,
and were rather shy of the other members.
Plumer said Webster had also spoken to him about the
Presidential election ; had told him that he should conform to
the opinion of the State, but without taking much interest in
the question. He was not for breaking terms with any party
upon the subject. His object was the introduction of federal-
ists into power. For himself, he was not ambitious; he was
growing old, and would readily yield up any pretensions of his
own if Jeremiah Mason could be promoted. He thought the
Attorney- General's place would be a very good one for Mason.
He did not exactly like the selection of General Jackson for
Vice-President. And his opinion of Mr. Calhoun had, during
the present session of Congress, very much depreciated. He
thought Richard Rush would be a very suitable Vice-President.
Plumer said he supposed that was to make a vacancy in the
mission to Great Britain, which Webster would be willing to
fill himself.
I told him it would not be necessary to make Rush Vice-
President for that. He was at all events coming home — per-
haps this next summer, but, if not, certainly at the close of
this Administration. The objections to Rush as Vice-President
with a Northern President were, to taking both the officers
from non-slave-holding States — both from the same great sec-
tion of the country. There was no person who could be sub-
stituted for Jackson to fill the Vice-Presidency ; no man who
had so solid a mass of popularity to secure in support of the
Administration. He would be satisfied, and so would sub-
stantially his friends, to-be Vice-President; and, as my sup-
porters must oppose him for the Presidency, the only way that
they could manifest their regard for him and their respect for
his services was to vote for him as Vice-President. Plumer
concurred in this opinion.
While he was here, Mr. Livermore, another member from New
Hampshire, came to tell me that he was exceedingly afraid
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1 8240 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 333
of the effect of setting up General Jackson as Vice-President,
on account of a passage in one of his letters to Mr. Monroe,
just published, wherein he says he would have hung the three
principal leaders of the Hartford Convention as spies.
I told Livermore they must set it off in favor of the fine
sentiments in the same letter, for putting down the monster,
party. It was a hasty and undigested sentiment thrown out in
the privacy of a confidential letter, and it was hardly fair to
hold him responsible for it.
Livermore said he was satisfied. He had only been afraid,
as there would be two tickets made up at their meeting of the
Legislature in June, that the name of General Jackson annexed
to mine might rather tend to weigh down than assist it.
I said the Vice- Presidency was a station in which the Gen-
eral could hang no one, and in which he would need to quarrel
with no one. His name and character would serve to restore
the forgotten dignity of the place, and it would afford an easy
and dignified retirement to his old age.
T. Newton, member from Virginia, came with a draft of a
report, as Chairman of the Committee of Commerce, upon
Breck's resolution to enquire if any law exists contravening
the Convention of 1815 with Great Britain. He affirms there
does not, and, in answer to the British complaint, avers that
rolled as well as hammered iron is imported from other coun-
tries as well as from Great Britain. The returns of commerce
under Sanford*s law for the year ending last September show
a considerable importation of rolled iron from Sweden and a
small one from Russia.
I told Newton I wished he would add a brief argument, to
show that rolled and hammered iron were not the like articles ;
but he did not incline to this.
Mr. George Hay called, as he not^unfrequently does, seem-
ingly to enquire for news and to sound opinions. He spoke
of Mr. Crawford's answer to Edwards's address as very unsatis-
factory, and upon some observations that I made, referring to
points upon which I thought it a good defence, he said I was
rather more candid and charitable towards Mr. Crawford than
he was.
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334 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
Mr. W. C. Bradley, member from Vermont, called to take
leave, going for home to-morrow. He spoke of the late Com-
missioner C. P. Van Ness's claim for salary higher than the
law of Congress allows ; to be considered as speedily as pos-
sible. Pleasanton had proposed a trial at law; but that, he
thought, would not answer. Bradley said, too, that Storrs had
intimated to him that in my letter of instruction to R. Rush
last summer upon the Northeastern boundary I had censured
the whole proceedings of the Commission under the fifth article
of the Ghent Treaty, so as to include the American Commis-
sioner and Agent in the censure. I told Bradley I had no such
intention ; I had considered the conduct of the British Com-
missioner and Agent as absolutely shameful, and had pointed
at transactions of the Commission resulting from it as unfit, for
the credit of both parties, to be laid before a third party, being
a foreign sovereign. Bradley said he had been utterly ashamed
of them himself I told him I would, some time when he had
leisure, show him the instruction itself Storrs, as a member
of the Committee of Foreign Relations of the House, obtained
the perusal of the instruction by the confidential communica-
tion of it to the committee, and this is the use he has made of
it Yet Colonel Dwight, who is very intimate with Storrs, and
himself an open, generous-hearted man, believes Storrs to be
much my friend.
i6th. Mr. Crowninshield, who was at church, walked home
with me, and came in. He spoke to me of the extreme aver-
sion of Hamilton, Chairman of the Military Committee, to
calling up the bill for settling the Massachusetts claim, which
he has reported. He said Hamilton had changed his views in
this respect, and for what reason? Poinsett took the same
course, and the federal portion of the Massachusetts delegation
seemed to be not hearty in the cause of pressing it now to a
decision.
I told him the coldness of the federal members of the dele-
gation was easily accountable. If the settlement should now
be obtained, it was upon principles opposite to theirs; they
were sensible it must operate against their party, and therefore
could not give their co-operation with much alacrity. As for
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the mutations of Hamilton and Poinsett, I knew not how to
account for them, unless as Vice-Presidential electioneering in
behalf of Calhoun. William King had constantly made of the
claim an electioneering engine for Crawford, and there were
many indications that Calhoun and his friends were willing
to make the same use of it.
17th. I received early this morning a note from the Presi-
dent making several enquiries respecting an opinion given by
Mr. Wirt, the Attorney-General, on the 2d of February, 1820,
as the President now supposed, on a resolution of the House of
Representatives of 31st December, 18 19, calling on the Secretary
of the Treasury for information concerning the illicit introduc-
tion of slaves at the Creek Agency by D. B. Mitchell in 1817.
But it was not on the resolution of the House that the
opinion was given ; it was on a letter from Governor Clark, of
Georgia, to me, enclosing charges against Mitchell, and reso-
lutions of the Legislature of Georgia, which Clark requested
might be communicated to the House of Representatives in
answer to that call. I examined the documents of the time
relating to the transaction, at my house and at the office, and
made minutes of the dates of the successive proceedings mate-
rial to the subject of the President's enquiries. Mr. Calhoun
came in while I was engaged upon the enquiry, having been
also requested by the President to give him information on the
subject. He came to ask the date of Governor Clark's letter
to me, and the time of its reception ; which I told him.
I called at the President's, and Mr. Calhoun soon after-
wards came in. Mr. Southard also came while we were there.
The President was writing a short letter to Mr. Crawford, in
answer to enquiries verbally made by him in conversation
upon this subject. The President had consulted Mr. Wirt,
and had on his table a letter from him, much of which con-
sisted of erroneous conjecture upon an imperfect knowledge
and recollection of the facts. Mr. Crawford reported on the
lith of January, 1820, in answer to the call of the House of
31st December, 18 19. Two months before that time, several
publications in the Georgia Journal by Clark, who was just
then elected Governor of Georgia, had, though not under the
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336 AfEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAAfS, [May,
authority of his name, exposed the guilt of Mitchell in such
manner as could leave little doubt upon any rational and im-
partial mind concerning it. These publications were perfectly
notorious all over Georgia, and were well known to Mr. Craw-
ford. Yet he made his report to the House on their resolution,
and withheld the communication of all the documents in his
possession, which deeply implicated Mitchell ; among which
were three letters from Mitchell to himself, and one from him
to Mitchell. This is now made an incidental subject of enquiry
by the Committee of Investigation, and Mr. Crawford's en-
quiries of the President have reference to it. The draft of the
President's letter, after remarking that Governor Clark's letter
was received after Mr. Crawford's report upon the resolution of
the House had been made, concluded by saying, " of the other
letters to which you refer I have no knowledge or recollection,"
or words to that effect.
I remarked to the President that these words might seem to
imply a denial that Mr. Crawford had ever communicated the
letters to him. But it appeared from the letters published in
Mitchell's pamphlet that they were communicated to the Presi-
dent in 1818. He altered the phrase, after much discussion, so
as to avoid all direct reference to the letters between Mitchell
and Mr. Crawford, and simply to state that he had not pursued
the enquiry beyond the letter of Governor Clark. I left with
the President all the documents that I had collected at the
office relating to the case, among which was a letter from Gov-
ernor Clark, dated 14th February, 182 1, with enclosures, upon
which nothing was done, because it was received after Mitchell
had been dismissed, upon the final opinion of the Attorney-
General against him.
1 8th. Colonel R. M. Johnson, Senator from Kentucky, called
on me this morning and introduced to me Mr. Prentiss, of that
State, but formerly of Massachusetts. Johnson spoke of the
Slave-Trade Convention now before the Senate, with great doubt
whether it would be ratified at all ; but, he said, it certainly
would not without an annexed condition of limitation. It is
opposed on two grounds : one, for the concession of the right
of search ; the other, from jealousy of the Southern members
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against the views of the British Government concerning negro
slavery. The caucus and the Presidential election also furnish
other, though unavowed, motives for opposition.
I went to the President's, and found Mr. Calhoun and Mr.
Southard with him. The first object of the meeting was to
determine whether certain promotions of officers in the navy
should be proposed as nominations to the Senate. Two cap-
tains and eleven lieutenants have died in the course of the last
year. Shall their places be supplied by promotions, or shall
they be left as economizing vacancies ?
Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Southard were disposed to fill them up.
The motives for this were abundant, in the wish to gratify the
ambition of aspirants. Mr. Calhoun remarked that to leave
officers too long stationary in rank had a tendency to produce
discouragement and disorder in the service; the stimulus of
hope being necessary to keep emulation active and to preserve
from corrupting vices. I asked Mr. Southard if he had employ-
ment for all the officers now in active service. He said, no;
not without putting more vessels in commission. I said the
Franklin, seventy-four, was about to retire from the Pacific.
Did he intend to send out this year another line-of-battle ship?
No ; he should have only a frigate in the South Sea, with per-
haps a schooner.
I remarked that the pirates and the privateers in the West
India seas had greatly diminished, and it was reasonably to be
hoped would not again increase during the present year. It
was to be expected that the expenses of the navy for the pres-
ent year should be less than those of the last. If there was
not full employment for all the officers in actual service, I
should advise rather to leave the vacancies open, and say to the
young gentlemen lacking advancement that they must wait.
Mr. Southard said there would also be some difficulty in
making the selection for promotion. And I added that in the
event of an emergency requiring the employment of more
officers than we now have, it would always be in season to
make the promotion.
It was asked how the Senators would feel disposed; and
the President suggested that enquiry should be made, say of
VOL. VI. — 22
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338 AfEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
Mr. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, and Colonel Hayne. I said that
might be well, but I knew how they would answer. They
would advise to the measure. It was not from them, or men
like them, that opposition was to be foreseen. But there were
others of very different character.
Calhoun said there were sixteen or seventeen members of the
Senate who might be set down as systematically hostile to the
Administration, and prepared to manifest that hostility by any
opposition which they could urge with a prospect of success.
Which success, I observed, by no means required that they
should carry their measure against the Administration. For
even when they could not defeat a proposed measure of the
Administration, they could excite irritation against it in Con-
gress, and clamor and discontent against it in the nation.
The President concluded that the vacancies should not be
filled up at this time.
/ I mentioned the prospect that the Convention for the sup-
pression of the slave-trade would be rejected in the Senate ;
at which the President was much astonished. The ostensible
pretences of this unexpected opposition were mentioned — the
concession of the right of search, and the panic of the South
at the measures taking in England for the abolition of slavery,
and with which this Convention was there associated. The
real, or at least more operating, causes were only glanced at
Mr. Calhoun proposed that Mr. Mercer should be engaged
now, while the Convention was before the Senate, to offer a
resolution in the House calling for information of what the
Executive have done to carry into effect the resolution of the
House. This motion might be laid on the table, and would
operate as an admonition to some of the Senators.
' I thought it more advisable to leave them now to act for
themselves ; but in the event of the rejection of the Conven-
tion it should, together with all the documents connected with
it, be communicated to the House, as a sequel to those already
sent in answer to a call moved by Mercer during the present
session. I said if the debates in Senate on Executive business
were public, I did not believe there would have been raised a
voice against the Convention.
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The President said that if they should reject the Convention
he would take the strongest measure that could be adopted in
placing it before the House.
Upon the subject of the Edwards and Crawford affair, I left
with the President Mitchell's pamphlet, and extracts from my
diary in January and February, 1820 — relating to Governor
Clark's letter to me, containing the charges against Mitchell,
and showing why they were not communicated to Congress.
I desired that the President, after perusing the extracts, would
return them to me, as I brought them only with a view to
refresh his memory by reference to the occurrences at the time.
He promised he would return them. He enquired whether
I knew how the Committee of Investigation were likely to
report.
I said I had heard they would report an entire justification
of Mr. Crawford, and that which would be equivalent to cen-
sure upon Mr. Edwards.
He asked with evident anxiety whether, if they should so
report, he could with propriety continue Mr. Edwards in the
mission to Mexico.
I said that would be a subject for deliberate consideration.
I had heard that the grounds upon which the committee were
disposed to report so favorably to Mr. Crawford were, that they
meant to confine their investigation to the charges of official-
misconduct against him, and did not mean to enquire into his
implied charge against Edwards, which produced the explosion;
on the plea that they would not interpose in the personal alter-
cations of two officers of the Government. If this should be
the basis of the report, and the House should sustain it, and
the President should remove Mr. Edwards upon deference to
such a decision, my belief was that Edwards could and would
appeal to the nation upon it with effect. I had heard that after
the report Mr. Crawford would probably demand the removal
of Mr. Edwards.
The President said that would again present the subject in a
different aspect. The position in which the President is placed
with reference to Mr. Crawford and his party is exceedingly
difficult They are pursuing him personally and his Adminis-
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340 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May.
tration with the deadliest rancor of hostility, and they are
impudently charging him with hostility to Crawford. Upon
the attack made by Cocke directly upon the President last
week, Cobb, Forsyth, and Lewis Williams expressly protested
that by their votes they did not mean to give an opinion upon
the merits of the case. This was intended as a rod held up
"in terrorem" to intimidate the President from acting upon
Edwards's case in any manner unfavorably to Crawford. This
is a subject which will have a long futurity.
19th. Colonel D wight, a member of the House from Massa-
chusetts, called to make a morning visit. Mr. Mower, of New
York, was here, as I inferred from his conversation, to renew in
behalf of De Witt Clinton the attempt to obtain for General
Jackson the electoral vote of New York for the Presidency.
He told me that he had seen Mr. Clinton, and a particular
and intimate friend of his (Ambrose Spencer), who thoroughly
approved of all the arrangements of Mower here, and were
decidedly of opinion that there was in the Legislature no chance
for any person against Mr. Crawford but me. Mr. Clinton was,
however, doubtful whether by the purchase of Young, of Peter
B. Porter, and with them of Clay's party, Mr. Crawford would
not ultimately prevail in the Legislature. But Mr. Crary and
Solomon Van Rensselaer were confident that Crawford could
under no circumstances whatever obtain the vote of New York.
But Governor Yates had determined to call the Legislature
together and recommend to them the passage of an Act giving
the choice of electors to the people. The proclamation was
already prepared, and would issue immediately after the ad-
journment of Congress. It would instantly kill two men —
William H. Crawford and Henry Clay; and if the election
went before the people, no man could stand in competition
with General Jackson. The 8th of January and the battle of
New Orleans was a thing that every man would understand,
and Mr. Clinton had told him that General Jackson would beat
him (Clinton himself) before the people of New York by thirty-
three and one-third per cent. Mower added that the editor of
the Columbian Observer, Jackson's paper at Philadelphia, had
mentioned to him that my father's Administration and federal-
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ism would be objections against me. He said he supposed I
knew this.
I said I had heard of it.
Mr. Addington, the British Charge d'Affaires, came, in great
solicitude for the fate of the Slave-Trade Convention before the
Senate. He said he had been informed there was no possible
chance that its ratification should be advised unless with a limi-
tation to a term of years; and although it seemed absurd to
connect together the ideas of piracy for a term of years with
the law of nations — a great universal principle of morality for
five years — ^yet rather than lose the Convention he would wish
for the limitation, to which he had no doubt that, with the
explanations that he should give, his Government would accede.
He said it was perhaps on the consideration that such a diffi-
culty might arise here, which Mr. Stratford Canning's knowl-
edge of our Constitution might have led him to suggest, that
the British ratification was reserved until the Convention should
be returned with ours. Addington asked me also, observing
that the question would not be deemed indiscreet, whether
Mr. Rebello was received here as Charge d'Affaires from the
Emperor of Brazil. I told him that he had not yet been for-
mally received, the definitive determination not having yet been
taken.
We had much conversation upon the peculiar condition of
Brazil at this time, involving the principle both of independ-
ence and of legitimacy in a manner altogether different from
that of the Spanish Colonies.
While I was with the President, he received a short note
from W. Lowrie, the Senator from Pennsylvania, returning
him the copy of his (the President's) letter to General Jack-
son of 14th December, 18 16, which Lowrie had received from
Richmond anonymously and improperly detained. It was not
signed, nor addressed to General Jackson, nor was the name
of the General mentioned in it. But the last paragraph, of
four or five lines, was in Mr. Monroe's handwriting, and the
rest in that of the late Mr. Purviance.
The President said he did not know how to understand this
movement of Mr. Lowrie.
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342 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May.
I said I thought he should take it as a step towards concilia-
tion, and a tacit acknowledgment that he had been wrong in
detaining it hitherto.
He said he was yet perfectly confident that he had never read
any letter to Findley and Lowrie ; that he had never kept Gen-
eral Jackson's letter upon file on his table, and certainly did not,
five or six years after it was written, go to his trunks to search
for it on the occasion of the appointment of Irish. It was not
until after a long search, and in an old forgotten trunk, that it
was found when needed in February last.
Still, I believe that the President is mistaken ; and this leads
me to notice a proper discrimination in the estimate of seem-
ingly contradictory testimony. The same incident produces
impressions altogether different upon memories equally good.
It is dangerous to oppose mere non-recollection, even though
sustained by probable circumstances, to the assertion of positive
remembrance, and my own experience concurs with my obser-
vation of all the men overplied with a multiplicity and variety
of business, whom I have ever intimately known, to convince
me of the imperfection of the most tenacious memory of man.
But the imperfections of memory arc very seldom inventive —
unless in a mind altogether insane. They conflict in the loss of
facts, and not in the fabrication of them. If Lowrie*s assertion,
that the President read to him and Findley Jackson's letter, be
not true, he has falsified the fact. If the President read the
letter, he has merely forgotten the fact. The error on one side
is mere human infirmity; on the other, it would be wilful false-
hood.
20th. Mr. Plumer was here, and we had a long conversation
upon political topics generally. He showed me a letter from
General Cocke, of Tennessee, to him, not signed, enquiring
concerning conversations at the boarding-house at which they
both lodged in 1 82 1 — concerning my opinions the year before
upon the restriction of slavery in Missouri. Cocke intimates
that he had understood Plumer to have said I was in favor of
the restriction. And Plumer said he had a letter from Hill,
the editor of the New Hampshire Patriot, now a thorough
Crawfordite, saying he had formerly understood Plumer to
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have told him that I was in favor of the restriction, and now it
was published that I had been against it.
Plumer said he very indistinctly recollected both the conver-
sations to which Cocke referred and anything that had passed
between him and me on the subject.
The object of Cocke was to get an electioneering weapon
against me for the Southern country, and that of Hill, to get one
against me for the North, and also one against Plumer himself.
Plumer said Barton, one of the Missouri Senators, told him
that Cocke had been all this session at him to get a certificate
from him about those conversations, but that Barton, consider-
ing the whole controversy as past and gone by, had refused to
give him any. He had written to Judge Archer, who had also
been present at the boarding-house conversations, to enquire of
his recollections concerning them ; and he asked me for mine,
of what my opinions had been. I told him that the only con-
versation I recollected to have had with him on the first Mis-
souri question, that of the restriction, was on the 23d of Feb-
ruary, 1820, and I read to him the. account of it given at the
time in my diary of that date.' He said he particularly recol-
lected the distinction I had drawn between a restriction upon
Illinois and one upon Missouri, and wished me to give him a
copy of the extract from my diary* — which I promised.
Both Houses of Congress have agreed to adjourn this day
week, and Plumer still thinks the investigating committee will
report in favor of Crawford upon Edwards's charges, avoiding
all research into the attack of Crawford upon him.
Walter Forward, member of the House from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, came, he said, by the advice of some of my
friends, to ask me what were my opinions upon the subject of
the tarilT and the protection of manufactures. He said it was
a subject of great interest among his constituents, and he knew
he should be enquired of by many of them concerning my
opinions with reference to it.
I told him I had no desire either to obtrude or to withhold
them. I was glad the Tariff bill had passed, though I had no
other knowledge of its details than had been elicited in the
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344 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
debate, and had formed no decisive opinion upon them. I
hoped its operation would be satisfactory to those whose in-
terests it was particularly adapted to promote, without being
oppressive upon the agricultural and commercial interests, as
had been apprehended. I was cautioned to distrust Forward by
my Pittsburgh correspondents two years ago. He attended the
caucus last February, and voted there for Crawford. Since
then my correspondents themselves have come out, held a
public meeting, and nominated Crawford; and now Forward
comes and asks me these questions. For what? N'importe.
I received a note from the President expressing great solici-
tude for the fate of the Convention before the Senate. I went
over to his house, and he said he would send a message to the
Senate concerning it.
I advised him to send with it a copy of the last note concern-
ing it received from Mr. Addington — which he said he would;
and he asked me to draw up and send him this evening such
observations as I might think proper to introduce into the
message. I met Mr. Mills, a Senator from Massachusetts,
and asked him how the Convention stood in Senate. He said
he thought it would be rejected, which he greatly regretted.
I told him the President would send in a message upon it
to-morrow. Mills said he wished to Heaven he would ; for
nothing else would save it.
I remained at home, writing observations for the President's
message. Between ten and eleven I took them with me to the
President's, but he was gone to bed. The doorkeeper told me
he would be up about seven in the morning.
2 1st. I called this morning before seven at the President's,
and left with him the copy of Mr. Addington's note and the
observations I had written last evening, which I read to him.
He was then preparing his message to the Senate. After break-
fast I called upon Colonel Taylor, of Caroline, the Senator from
Virginia, to tell him that the President would send a message
this day, and to ask him, if the Convention should be called up
in Senate before it arrived, to keep off the decision until it
should come.
He said the President had been with him last evening and
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told him of his intention to send a message ; and while I was
there a note came in from the President, repeating the notice
that the message would go in this morning. In the observa-
tions I wrote last evening, it was stated that the projet of a
Convention sent last summer to England was proposed to the
British Government by order of the President with the unani-
mous advice of the members of the Administration. When I
read it, the President observed that Mr. Crawford said it had
not been communicated to him. I said it had not only been
communicated to him, but that he had been present at the
meeting of the Cabinet at which it was approved, and assented
to it without hinting an objection. He had objected strongly
to a part of my instruction to Mr. Rush, which accompanied
the projet, as a misplaced declamation against the right of
search, while in the projet of the Convention itself it was con-
ceded ; and in consequence of his objection a great part of my
draft of the letter to Rush had been struck out. The President
himself prepared a substitute for it, which was inserted in its
stead.
He said he perfectly recollected it, but Mr. Crawford had
told him yesterday that he had not been present at the meeting
upon the draft of the Convention. He said he supposed Mr.
Crawford's memory had been impaired by his disorder.
After returning home, I recurred to my diary of 19th and
20th June last, and found that the part of my argument against
search which Mr. Crawford objected to was in the letter to S.
Canning, of the same date with the instruction to Rush; that
the President proposed it should be transferred from the letter
to Canning to the instruction to Rush; but that I concluded to
strike it out altogether, taking the President's substitute for it.
I mentioned this to Colonel Taylor, who had told me that
the opposition to the Convention in the Senate was entirely a
Presidential electioneering manoeuvre. Van Buren and Holmes,
of Maine, were its prime instigators, and almost all its support-
ers are dead-set Crawford men. His colleague, however. Gov-
ernor Barbour, he said, had behaved with great magnanimity,
and honestly supported the Convention. Speaking of Craw-
ford's health, he said he had heard, from a source to which he
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3^6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
gave credit, that the answer to Mr. Edwards's address wa*? writ-
ten by George Tucker, the member of the House from Virginia.
The style and temper of the paper, both very good, render
this highly probable.
I called a second time at the President's, who had then finished
the draft of his message to the Senate, which he read to me,
and in which he had incorporated a part of the observations I
had written last evening. He had omitted the references to
the reports of committees of the House of Representatives in
February, 1 821, and in April, 1822, and the extracts from them;
but on my observing to him that my object in introducing them
was to place the Senate, in the event of their rejecting the Con-
vention, in the most direct opposition possible to the House, he
said he would send a note of the extracts with them to the
Senate if I would have them made out. The President further
determined, in case of the rejection of the Convention, to send
a message to the House, communicating to them all the papers,
and informing them of his determination to suspend all further
negotiation with the powers of Europe and America upon the
resolution of the House of 28th February, 1823. He told me
also that Mr. Calhoun had been with him, and distinctly remem-
bered that Mr. Crawford was present at the Cabinet meeting at
which it was determined to propose to the British Government
my projct of a Convention for the suppression of the slave-
trade. The message to the Senate was sent in, and I was much
occupied the rest of the day in preparing for that eventually to
be sent to the House.
At the office. Mr. John Reed, a member from Massachusetts,
came, and had a long conversation with me upon general poli-
tics. He spoke with regret of the recent publication of Mr.
T. Pickering. I told him that as there had been provocation
to Mr. Pickering in the publication of Cunningham's pamphlet,
though contrary to my father's will, yet I could not censure Mr.
Pickering for exhibiting his resentment to the world against
him. I thought he had injudiciously attacked Mr. Jefferson,
and unjustly renewed an old attack upon me. There was in
his invective upon me only one thing deserving of notice, and
that was a gross misrepresentation, equivalent to a wilful false-
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hood. It was that 'of my having uttered a sentiment of servile
subserviency to the Executive in the debate upon the embargo
in December, 1807. I told Reed how the fact in that case had
been, and he said he regretted not having known it some days
since, when he had heard the same thing spoken of.
Mr. Branch, a Senator from North Carolina, came with Mr.
Mann to take leave. They go together for North Carolina
the day after to-morrow. Mr. Branch spoke of the Convention
before the Senate, against which I found him very strongly
prepossessed. He said he had been favorably inclined towards
it at first, but that many objections had been raised against it,
and the more they had been discussed, the more weight he had
thought there was in the objections. I endeavored to convince
him that his impressions were erroneous, and exposed largely
to him the policy of the measure, the motives upon which the
Convention had been founded, and the high importance of its
ratification. I told him the President had determined to sus-
pend all further negotiation upon the resolution of the House
of Representatives of 28th February, 1823, in the event of the
rejection of the Convention.
Mr. Branch appeared disposed to reconsider his aversion to
the Convention, but gave me no assurance that he would vote
for it.
22d. I went to the President's, upon the preparation of a
message to the House of Representatives in case of the rejec-
tion of the Slave-Trade Convention by the Senate ; and while
there, two of the Florida Treaty Commissioners, Judge White
and Mr. Tazewell, came in with a draft of a report, which they
propose to make at the close of the Commission, which must
be on the 8th of next month, and which they gave me to
peruse and for any remarks that I might think proper to make
upon it. They mentioned having received the copy of a note
from Mr. Salmon, the Charge d*Affaires of Spain, remon-
strating against decisions which he supposes them to have
made upon two points before them, but one of which, relating
to interest upon the claims, they told me they had not decided.
I left their report with the President, who told me he would
read and return it to me on Monday.
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348 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
The President spoke to me of the reception of Mr. Rebello
as Charge d'Afifaires from Brazil, and said if he should post-
pone it till after the close of the session of Congress he appre-
hended it might be represented as if he had purposely deferred
it, to assume the authority of recognizing without consulting
Congress. I proposed to him, therefore, to receive Mr. Rebello
next Tuesday ; to which he agreed.
On returning to the office, I found Wyer there, and, as he
saw me uneasy as to the decision of the Senate upon the Con-
vention, he said he would sec Colonel Taylor, the Senator from
Virginia, as soon as he should come home, and let me know
the result. He came in about seven in the evening, and told
me that the Colonel had just got home, totally exhausted, and
said that the Convention had been advised for ratification, but
spoiled by some amendments and exceptions. I took a soli-
tary walk of an hour, to allow Colonel Taylor time to dine, and
then called upon him myself
In my walk I met Alexander Hamilton, who told me that
his report against his colleagues had been transferred from
the Committee of Public Lands to the Judiciary Committee,
and was now in the hands of Mr. Webster. He also told me
that he had letters from New York mentioning that Governor
Yates was there, and would certainly convoke the Legislature,
to recommend the passage of an Act giving the choice of Presi-
dential electors to the people.
Colonel Taylor gave me the particulars of the decision this
day in the Senate upon the Convention. The limitation is,
that either party may renounce the Convention with notice six
months beforehand. The second article is stricken out; and
the coast of " America*' is excepted from the right of capture
and search. He said that his colleague, Barbour, had made
this day the best speech he had ever heard from him in sup-
port of the Convention, and had done entire justice to it. But
all the other partisans of Mr. Crawford had made of it a bitter
and rancorous party matter. Holmes had made a speech of
two hours to the bare walls ; and Van Buren, Dickerson, Gail-
lard, Chandler, S. Smith, Ruggles, Elliot, and Ware were all
dead shot against the whole Convention. Others fluctuated,
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for there were twenty members of the Senate who might be
set down devoted to Mr. Crawford. He added that he should
have some hopes of his colleague, but he had understood that
his son was to marry Mr. Crawford's daughter. "And so
you see," said he, " how this world goes." After the final vote
upon the Convention, a motion was made for taking off the
injunction of secrecy, which is left for decision on Monday.
23d. Mr. George Hay called this morning to enquire from
the President concerning the decision of the Senate upon the
Convention, the substance of which I told him ; mentioning
the modifications and exceptions which Colonel Taylor had
spoken of as having been adopted. Mr. Hay, seeing this book
on my table, and observing that he had seen it almost always
on my table, enquired, jestingly, whether it was Bishop Burnet's
History of his Own Times. I said perhaps it might be ; at
least I believed it to contain the most complete materials for
the history of Mr. Monroe's Administration extant. And I
added that I proposed to devote the leisure of my life here-
after to that design. But the conditions of my undertaking it
were Life, Health, and Leisure ; and upon the form I had not
yet seriously reflected.
He said it was a pity that Mr. Monroe had not kept a diary —
a very brief one, in comparison with mine, would have sufficed.
But he now remembers nothing as to time and circumstance.
Mr. Hay spoke, as he always does, with extreme bitterness of
Mr. Jefferson, whom he declares to be one of the most insincere
men in the world. He reminded me of a letter written by Mr.
Jefferson to Mr. Monroe in 1 818-19, upon my controversial
papers with Spain, and relating to the Seminole War. They
were in a style even of extravagant encomium. Precisely at
the same time. Hay says, Ritchie, of Richmond, told him that
Mr. Jefferson had spoken of the same papers in terms of severe
reprobation to a gentleman from whom he had it. Hay said
he told Ritchie that that gentleman lied; but he knew better :
the gentleman was Edward Coles, and he had told the truth.
But Mr. Jefferson! — his enmity to Mr. Monroe was inveterate,
though disguised, and he was at the bottom of all the opposi-
tion to Mr. Monroe in Virginia.
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350 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. [May,
Mr. D. Brent came, to mention the issue in the Senate on the
Convention ; of which he had heard, and thought I was not
informed. Mr. Rufus King came, and in a long conversation
gave me all the particulars of the proceedings in the Senate;
showed me the parts of the Convention which have been
stricken out, and the yeas and nays upon every question that
was taken. He said that in the management of the opposition
there had been great disingenuousness and rancor, and it had
been clearly and plainly disclosed to the observation of every
one that the main object of it was an electioneering engine
against me. He said that after making the crime piracy, and
inviting all others to do the same, to cavil at the right of search-
ing for the pirates was an absurdity ; and, without meaning to
compliment me, he would 5ay he thought the abuses to which
the exercise of the right were liable had been guarded against
with the utmost care in the Convention. He knew not how
they could have been better guarded. The message of the
President had been very properly sent in ; but all that it con-
tained had already been said in the Senate before it came in.
He did not know whether now the Convention would be worth
accepting, or would be accepted, by Great Britain.
I told him I thought it would. The essential bases of the
Convention were untouched. The three great principles — that
the trade shall be piracy, the mutual right of search and cap-
ture, and the trial of the captured party by his own country —
are secured. The two articles eliminated were no part of our
project. The exception of the coast of America from the
searchable seas has operation only with regard to the coast of
Brazil ; and may hereafter be removed, so far as may be neces-
sary, by further negotiation.
The only material injury done to the Convention is the
reservation of the power in either party to renounce it with
six months* notice — a power leaving an important question,
what authority in the organization of our Government is com-
petent to give that notice ? I presume it must be by authority
of an Act of Congress.
Upon the subject of New York politics, Mr. King said it
was certain that the Governor, Yates, would call the Legisla-
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ture together and propose to them the passage of a law to
give the choice of Presidential electors to the people ; and no
doubt that the law would pass. What the result would be it
was impossible to foretell. He told me also an extraordinary
story about the purchase of a newspaper lately set up in New
York, called the National Union, a Clintonian paper, which
first announced itself as favoring General Jackson and lament-
ing that there was an overwhelming majority of the people of
New York for me, but now had come out for Crawford as
President, and De Witt Clinton as Governor of the State.
And he told me some of Mr. Van Buren's negotiations to dis-
encumber himself from the ownership of the Albany Argus.
The British Charge d'Affaires, Addington, called likewise, to
speak upon the subject of the Convention. He had been in-
formed of the manner in which it passed, and said he hoped it
would be accepted as it has been ratified here. He said it had
been explained by him in letters already dispatched to his Gov-
ernment. He understood the opposition to have arisen purely
from party spirit and to be in a great measure occasional. He
asked me if I could let him have confidentially a copy of the
President's last message to the Senate urging the ratification
of the Convention to send to his Government. It would un-
doubtedly have the effect of reconciling them to the modifica-
tions annexed to the ratification here.
I said I would propose it to the President, and thought he
would probably not object. But, as there was a motion pend-
ing before the Senate for taking off the injunction of secrecy
from all their proceedings on the subject, the message would
perhaps in that manner be made public.
I met Daniel P. Cook, who walked home with me. came
in, and sat an hour, conversing chiefly upon the affair of Mr.
Edwards and Mr. Crawford. He is under deep anxiety with
regard to the report of the committee, which he is apprehen-
sive will not only substantially justify Mr. Crawford, but in a
most insidious manner indirectly take side against Edwards.
From the conversations of Webster with Plumer, I am appre-
hensive there is much ground for the expectation. The dis-
closures of character made by Webster in this affair have been
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352 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May.
Strongly marked, and prove that William King is not the only
man entrusted with the secret that Webster is to have an office
of high distinction in the event of Crawford's election as Pres-
ident. His address in getting 'himself appointed a member of
this committee, which he did by suggesting the reference in
the House without moving it, and the cunning of Forsyth, who
at that time complained of his appointment as of a person un-
friendly to Mr. Crawford; the high pretensions of impartiality
with which Webster began the investigation, and his volunteer
promise to Cook that he would pursue the enquiry judicially ;
his consultation with Rufus King as to the principles upon
which the investigation was to be managed, and through him
with Jeremiah Mason and Richard Stockton; with his late
underhanded attempts to prevail upon me to exercise influence
over the editors of newspapers friendly to me, that they may
sustain the report of the committee to sacrifice the character
and reputation of Edwards to glut the revenge of Mr. Craw-
ford ; present altogether a combination of talent, of ambition,
of political management, and of heartless injustice which have
thrown open to my inspection Mr. Webster's inmost character.
He evidently considers the report of the committee as de-
pending alone upon him; and so do the public. I have no
doubt that in a great measure it really does; but I have great
confidence in J. W. Taylor.
24th. James Barbour, a Senator from Virginia, and Chair-
man of the Committee of Foreign Relations of the Senate,
came, and spoke of the proceedings of the Senate upon the
Convention, and of the motion made by him for removing the
injunction of secrecy from all the proceedings.
I observed to him that it was desirable the injunction should
be removed by the Senate with regard to their own proceed-
ings ; but some question would remain whether they could pub-
lish the confidential communications of the President to them.
Mr. Barbour said he had seen the President, who was willing
and desirous that all his communications to the Senate should
be published.
Mr. James Lloyd, Senator from Massachusetts, who came in
while I was in this conversation with Barbour, said that the
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proceedings of the Senate on the Convention, if published
alone, without the documents from the President, would be
unintelligible, the yeas and nays always having reference to
the Convention communicated.
Mr. Barbour concluded to press for the publication of the
whole.
Hayden, of New York, and McDuffie, of South Carolina,
members of the House, came to take leave. McDuffie, having
reference to the Presidential election, said he was returning to
Carolina, and, as there might be in the Legislature of that State
a contested support of Mr. Crawford and of me, he should be
glad, if I had no objection to stating them, to know my senti-
ments upon the tariff policy. I told them freely. That it was
one of those subjects in which great opposing interests were to
be conciliated by a spirit of mutual accommodation and con-
cession. I was satisfied with the Tariff bill as it has passed,
because it appeared to me to have been elaborated precisely to
that point. I thought I had seen in it an admirable illustration
of the practical operation of our national Government The
two parties had contested every inch of the ground between
them, with great ardor and ability, and the details of the bill
had finally brought them to questions decided by the casting
vote of the presiding officer in each House, and an adjustment
by conference between the two Houses. With the result it
was reasonable to expect that both parties would be satisfied.
McDuffie appeared to be well satisfied with it himself, and
he said that the final vote upon it in the House gave a majority
of fifty votes in its favor.
I told him that there was another subject upon which my
opinions had been greatly misrepresented in the Southern
country, with a view to excite local prejudices against me.
It was upon the slave question generally, and the Missouri
restriction particularly. My opinion had been against the pro-
posed restriction in Missouri, as contravening both the Consti-
tution and the Louisiana Treaty. This was the first Missouri
question. The second was upon an article introduced into the
Constitution of the State of Missouri, which I thought con-
trary to the Constitution of the United States. I then stated
VOL. VI. — 23
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354 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [May,
explicitly what my opinions hadbeen upon both questions, and
noticed the artifice of the misrepresentation, which, from my
opposition to the article in the Missouri Constitution, inferred
my having favored the restriction. I added that the article of
the Missouri Constitution required the Legislature of that State
to do precisely what the Legislature of his own State of South
Carolina had since done; and which Judge William Johnson,
a native and citizen of the State itself, had pronounced to be
contrary to the Constitution of the United States.
McDuffie said he had no doubt it was so, and was very glad
I had given him this explanation.
I called at the President's, and spoke of the Brazilian Charge
d' Affaires, whom he had determined to receive to-morrow. I
advised that we should first ascertain "whether the Brazilian
Government considered itself bound by the treaties of Portugal
with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave-trade, and
whether the Emperor was disposed to suppress the trade itself.
To this the President agreed ; and on returning to the office I
sent for Rebello, who immediately came. He said the Emperor
had declared by a proclamation, set forth in the succinct narra-
tive furnished me by Rebello himself, that he considered him-
self bound by all the treaties of Portugal previously concluded;
and added that he would send me an extract from his instruc-
tions, in which the Emperor's disposition for the total abolition
of the traffic was pronounced in the most decisive manner. I
asked him what number of slaves had been introduced into
Brazil in the course of the last year. He said, from seven to
eight thousand. What was the proportion of black and colored
people in Brazil to the whites ? Four or five to one. Under
what flag was the trade now carried on to Brazil ? He said it
was in vessels which bore the Portuguese flag at the settlements
in Africa where they procured the slaves, and whence they de-
parted, but took the Brazilian flag upon arriving in the ports of
Brazil. He said also that the importations were now confined
to such as are shipped from places more than five degrees south
of the equator, where existing establishments embracing large
masses of property would require time to admit of their being
totally broken up. He afterwards sent me a note including the
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extract from his instructions and a reference to the Emperor's
proclamation, which he had mentioned.
David Trimble, member of the House from Kentucky, came
and took leave. He spoke of his earnestness in support of
the election of Mr. Clay to the Presidency, and said he hoped
there was less of personal animosity between him and me than
there had been heretofore. I told him there never had been
on my part any animosity other than that which Mr. Clay had
chosen to raise. Trimble said he did not wish to enter upon
this subject, and, after some other remarks, said all he could
tell me was, that of the candidates before the public for the
Presidency, Mr. Clay would be his first choice, but I should
not be his last. He meant I should take this as a proof of his
friendly disposition to me.
Mr. Crawford was taken ill again on Saturday night, and
keeps his bed.
25th. I called at the President's, and reported to him the
result of my conference yesterday with Mr. Rebello, and he
determined to receive him as Charge d'Affaires from the Em-
peror of Brazil at one o'clock to-morrow. Plumer spoke to me
of the report of the Committee of Investigation in the case of
Mr. Edwards and Mr. Crawford, which was this day made to
the House. It admits all the facts charged by Edwards, but
acquits Mr. Crawford of all evil intention, explicitly states that
the charge of having mismanaged the finances is not supported
by the evidence, and exhibits from beginning to end a prevail-
ing bias in his favor. It abstains, however, from expressing an
opinion against Mr. Edwards — which is more than I expected.
Plumer says it has been remarked that for several days past
Webster has been in continual close private conferences with
Forsyth, Cuthbert, and Cobb, Crawford's most intimate friends
and supporters ; and he said to Plumer yesterday, with some
temper, that he considered Edwards as having made a base
attack upon Crawford. Plumer added further that Burton, of
North Carolina, had spoken to him and expressed great solici-
tude that my friends should not, in this affair, take part against
Crawford. Burton observed that Mr. Crawford's friejids were
beginning to consider the state of his health as desperate, and
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356 MEAfOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS, [May,
that it would be necessary for them to fix upon another can-
didate. They were very averse to General Jackson, but most
emphatically so to Mr. Calhoun ; and Burton was very anxious
that I should keep upon good terms with them.
Mr. Addington came to enquire at what time I should prob-
ably be ready to dispatch the ratified Convention. I said that
it would be impossible for me to prepare the dispatches which
must go with it to Mr. Rush until after the close of the session
of Congress. The proceedings in the Senate would, in the
mean time, be published, with the last message of the Presi-
dent, copies of which I wished to communicate to Mr. Rush,
to show the earnestness and sincerity of the Executive in
pressing the ratification. Addington said he should give the
fullest explanations of the causes from which the opposition
here in the Senate had arisen, and state explicitly that unless
the present Convention should be ratified there was no pros-
pect that anything could be done. He fully believed that the
last message to the Senate was the only thing that had saved
the Convention, and before it was sent in he had nearly aban-
doned all hope of the ratification.
26th. I called upon Colonel Taylor, the Senator from Vir-
ginia, and mentioned to him the paragraph in the National
Intelligencer of this morning, stating that by a rule of the
Senate no extracts from their Executive journal could be
taken; and that the removal of the injunction of secrecy was
only with respect to the facts, and not to the documents.
Taylor said it must be a trick to evade the publication ; but
that was not the intention of the Senate, and he would see to
have it rectified. Colonel Taylor told me he should leave the
city, to return home, to-morrow. He spoke, therefore, freely
upon the Presidential election. The Legislature of Virginia,
he said, had been managed into a declaration in support of Mr.
Crawford as the caucus candidate; and the State would sup-
port him if he continued on the list of candidates. But he was
again ill : rumors were afloat that he had suffered a paralytic
affection of the tongue, and since Sunday had been quite or
nearly speechless. It was doubtful whether he would recover,
at least so as to be sustainable for a Presidential candidate.
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The State of Virginia would be compelled to look elsewhere, and
he felt perfectly sure that neither Mr. Clay nor General Jackson
could obtain the vote of the State. The Richmond junto would
attempt to bring up Clay ; but they could not succeed, and if the
choice should come to the House of Representatives, I might
take it for a certainty that the vote of the Virginia delegation
would be neither for Jackson nor Clay. He thought everything
depended upon the State of New York, and had not a doubt
that Virginia would declare for me if New York should do so.
That event, however, is now less probable than it was three
months since. I told Colonel Taylor what I knew of the state
of the question in every part of the Union — prospects every-
where, nothing to be relied upon anywhere.
W. Plumer came and took leave. He is to go to-morrow,
immediately after the adjournment of the House. He told me
that he had conversed with Mercer on the Slave-Trade Con-
vention; that Mercer had read to him a very long letter that
he had written to Stratford Canning, to urge the ratification of
the Convention in England, as it has been ratified here. The
argument of the letter was, that I had heretofore been opposed
to the concession of the right of search, and opposed to making
the slave-trade piracy by law ; that the opposition to the Con-
vention now was a personal opposition to me, connected with
the Presidential question ; that my interest is now altogether
engaged in support of the Convention, and if it should not be
ratified there is no prospect that any concert between the two
countries for this purpose can be established.
A note from the President this morning had called a meet-
ing of the members of the Administration at eleven. I found
Asbury Dickins, the Clerk of the Treasury, there. He said
Mr. Crawford had been gradually growing better since Sunday,
but kept his bed, and was not in a condition to transact busi-
ness. He withdrew. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Southard attended
the meeting, which was to determine how the naval force in
commission should be employed for the ensuing season. The
Franklin, seventy-four, is expected to arrive from the Pacific in
July, and it is not proposed to send another line-of-battle ship,
for the present, into those seas.
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358 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May.
I advised that the squadron in the Mediterranean should be
reinforced, and a seventy-four sent thither. The existing war
between Great Britain and Algiers, as well as that between the
Turks and Greeks, gives peculiar interest to that quarter at this
time ; and Shaler has written requesting, with great urgency,
that the squadron may communicate freely with him at Algiers.
Mr. Southard expressed the wish that Captain Rodgers, now
the presiding member of the Navy Commissioners, may be in-
duced to go out as commander of the squadron — the Columbus
or the North Carolina to be the flagship, Rodgers preferring
the former, built here under his direction, but having the repu-
tation of a dull sailer, and Calhoun recommending the North
Carolina, to show variety of force in the Mediterranean, where
the Columbus has already once been.
I brought into discussion whether the proposed interview
between Rodgers and the Capitan Pasha should be authorized.
The disposition towards it was unanimous, but I desired it
might not be decided upon without further and full delibera-
tion. Whether English should be allowed to go, in the event
of the project's being carried into effect, is further to be con-
sidered. It is not certain that Rodgers will be willing to go.
There are difficulties of economical and domestic arrange-
ment— deficiency of pay, and some question of the additional
expense which a meeting with the Capitan Pasha may render
necessary. All this is to be kept profoundly secret. The ship
cannot be ready in less than three months ; and in the mean
time the Constitution frigate may be sent out sooner.
Before the Cabinet meeting broke up, J. H. Eaton, of the
Senate, and S. A. Foot, of the House, the Committee of En-
rolled Bills, came in with several for the President's signature.
He said he would go up this evening to the Capitol.
At one o'clock I presented M. Jose Silvestre Rebello to the
President as Charge d'Affaires from the Emperor of Brazil.
He made a short address in English, which he speaks indif-
ferently, and which the President answered with kindness, as
usual. The friendship and harmony between the two countries
formed the theme of these discourses, and Mr. Rebello prom-
ised grateful recollection that the Government of the United
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States has been the first to acknowledge the independence of
Brazil. He glanced also at the concert of American powers to
sustain the general system of American independence.
To this the President did not particularly allude in his
answer, but confined himself to general expressions of interest
for the Brazilian nation, and our friendly intercourse with them.
After dinner, I walked up to the Capitol. The two Houses
met at eight in the evening. The President, Mr. Calhoun, Mr.
Southard, Mr. D. Brent, and Dr. Everett were there. I learned
that the Senate had rejected the nomination of Benjamin Ames
as Marshal for the District of Maine, and would probably reject
that of Joseph T. Wingate as Collector of the port of Bath.
The President then, at my request, nominated Benjamin Greene
as Marshal, and I went into the House to consult the members
of the delegation for a nomination of Collector at Bath. They
all joined in recommending E. Herrick, and I sent his name
by Dr. Everett to the President. But he sent me back word
that he could not nominate any member of Congress. I asked
Cushman and Burleigh to see if they and the other members
from the State in the House could agree upon a person to
recommend — but they could not. They said they would see
if they could before morning. The House was in that chaotic
state which always happens at the last hours of a session : no
quorum; about one hundred members present, coming and
going, walking about the House, and taking leave of one
another; some going off this night; others, directly from the
House to-morrow morning. Many of them came up to me and
took leave.
I returned to the President's chamber, and found him in the
examination of bills for signature. They were all read through,
and both Houses having, about ten o'clock, adjourned till eight
to-morrow morning, the President requested us to meet him
here again at that time. He took me home in his carriage.
The House of Representatives this day passed a resolution
authorizing the Committee of Investigation to sit after the close
of the session, to take the examination of Mr. Edwards and
to make up and publish their final report.
27th. Close of the first session of the Eighteenth Congress.
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360 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [May,
Meeting B. W. Crowninshield this morning at my door, we
walked together to the Capitol. The President was there, and
both Houses were in session. As we were walking, Crownin-
shield told me many things that have recently occurred: some
views of Poinsett's, who says he holds the casting vote of South
Carolina in the House, and who wishes to disarm opposition
against himself at Charleston, which he represents; a con-
versation with John Floyd respecting me, in which Floyd said
to him (Crowninshield) that his opinions were lately much
changed, and he did not know but he should finally go with
him. But this was closely confidential.
On going into the House, I found a remnant of agitation
upon a letter from John Randolph of Roanoke to his con-
stituents, published in the Richmond Enquirer which came
this morning. He was a member of the Committee of Inves-
tigation, but went away, embarked last week at New York for
England, and wrote this letter at sea and sent it back by the
pilot. It is a gross and furious attack upon Edwards, upon the
President, and upon the majority of the Committee of Inves-
tigation. Webster, Livingston, J. W. Taylor, McArthur, and
even Floyd, flatly denied the truth of his statement respecting
the majority of the committee. Owen, the other member of
the committee, is gone.
Mr. Bell, of New Hampshire, came to me and enquired for
whom I thought it would be advisable to give the vote for
Vice-President. I told him the sentiment of my friends ap-
peared to favor General Jackson, and it was entirely agreeable
to me. We were interrupted in this conversation, and, the
Senate returning to the consideration of Executive business, I
withdrew. About ten, the usual committee of two members
from each House — Macon and , of the Senate,
Taylor of New York and Foot of Connecticut, of the House —
came and announced to the President that they were ready to
adjourn if he had nothing further to communicate. There were
only two or three nominations for the Senate to act upon in
Executive business, and about half-past ten both Houses ad-
journed. There was no quorum in the House this morning, so
that the motion to fill up the Committee of Investigation by
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the appointment of two members in the place of John Ran-
dolph and of Owen did not pass.
Before leaving the Capitol, the President in close confidence
told Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Southard, and me that a friend of his
had informed him confidentially, and that he might be prepared
to act upon such an event, that Mr. Webster had assured him
that unless Mr. Edwards upon his examination should furnish
more satisfactory grounds for his inculpation of Mc. Crawford,
the final report of the committee would be decisive against
him; and the President strongly intimated that he would in
that case remove Edwards. I expressed a doubt whether the
committee would thus decide ; Calhoun said it was impossible.
With the exception of the indefinite charge of having misman-
aged the finances, they had found all the facts as charged by
Edwards. They had made at least two glaring misstatements
to operate against him, and had credited Mr. Crawford for all
the bad money that he had passed off upon public creditors
as if he had never received it. I asked the President who it
was that had given him this hint, but he declined telling. He
took me home in his carriage.
With Mercer I had a long conversation upon the Slave-Trade
Convention, and the proceedings of the Senate upon it. He
said that when the National Intelligencer announced that no
copy of those proceedings could be obtained, he himself had
gone to the presiding officer and insisted upon having copies,
and had obtained them, and they would be published in the
Intelligencer.
I had observed to Mercer that after what had taken place
in the Senate upon this Convention, and the subsequent effort,
obviously intended to follow it up, to make it unpopular, the
power of the President to negotiate further under the resolu-
tion of the House would be much checked until there should
be some further manifestation of opinion by Congress in its
favor.
He now expressed to me some doubt whether this could be
done at the next session of Congress. He said it was appar-
ent and known to every one that the opposition now started
against the Convention was merely personal, pointed against
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362 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May.
me with reference to the Presidential election, and but for that
would not have existed ; that it was barely temporary and occa-
sional; but that probably the excitement from which it arose
would be at its height at the next session of Congress, and
that then would be a moment peculiarly unfavorable for a calm
discussion of the subject in the House.
I told him I had no doubt it would be so at the beginning
of the session, but that my project was this. If the British
government should ratify the Convention as modified, the
President will of course notice it in his annual message at the
commencement of the session, and it will be among the docu-
ments communicated with the message. That part of the
message will, in the ordinary course of business, be referred
to a select committee, which may take the whole subject under
consideration, including what is further to be done. They
may keep it before them until the Presidential election shall
have been decided, after which there will be no motive for
persisting in the factious opposition to the principles of the
Convention, which has now so suddenly and unexpectedly
gotten up to benefit Mr. Crawford by fastening odium upon
me. But Mr. Crawford had favored the concession of the right
of search even while I resisted it, and without the preliminary
condition of making the slave-trade piracy. He had encour-
aged Mr. Canning in pressing for its concession. The project
of Convention, which I sent to Mr. Rush, had been submitted
to his inspection ; he had been present at the Cabinet meeting
when it was determined to propose it, and fully assented to
that measure — though he now denied that fact.
Mercer asked me upon what authority I made that statement.
I said, from the lips of the President.
Mercer appeared surprised, and said that he had mentioned
to the President that he had heard this stated concerning
Crawford, but the President, instead of confirming it, had
spoken as if he doubted it. He said he wondered why the
President should have used this reserve with him while con-
sulting him confidentially on the subject, and after having had
frequent communications with him upon subjects of a still
more confidential nature. He had always considered me as
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Opposed to his views in relation to the suppression of the slave-
trade, and Mr. Crawford as favoring them ; that I thought the
Colonization Society wild and visionary in their plans, while
Mr. Crawford was one of their Vice-Presidents, and last sum-
mer had spent a day in presiding at one of their meetings. He
further said that while Baron Hyde de Neuville was here he
had proposed a Convention between the United States and
France for the suppression of the slave-trade, granting a mutual
right of search and capture, and stipulating to send on board
of every cruiser against the slave-traders a joint commission
of judges to try the persons captured of either nation; that
the President authorized him (Mercer) to make such a Conven-
tion with De Neuville, but afterwards withdrew the authority.
Mercer spoke also of Alexander Smyth's attacks upon me as
being a favorer of the slave-trade; of his handbill detailing
their private conversations and mine with Mercer, and of hfs
own relations with Crawford, which, he said, had not been inti-
mate. He approved the idea of acting in Congress upon the
slave-trade at the next session, after the decision upon th^
Presidential election ; and, on his parting from me, I assured
him I should be happy to co-operate with him in the further
support of the cause — at which h'e expressed his satisfaction.
Addington was anxious to dispatch his packet with the
ratified Convention, and I promised to be ready for him on
Monday next.
Mr. Seymour, Senator from Vermont, Livingston, of Loui-
siana, Hobart and Crowninshield, of Massachusetts, and Ellis,
of Pennsylvania, came and took leave. John W. Taylor, a
member of the Committee of Investigation, who remains to
attend the further meetings of that committee, also called, and
sat with me until the close of the evening. With Seymoj^r,
Crowninshield, and Taylor I had particular conversations —
with the two former concerning the Presidential election, with
the latter relative to the proceedings of the committee. Sey-
mour, on his way home, will stop some time in the State of
New York. His main anxiety is to make friends by giving
assurances of a Republican Administration; Crowninshield's,
to give at home correct views of facts.
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3^4 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
Taylor told me the substance of what had passed in com-
mittee. They have adjourned to the 7th of June, to give time
to Mr. Edwards to arrive and prepare for his examination. In
the mean time, Mr. Edward Livingston is going to New York,
and Mr. Webster to Philadelphia. Floyd moved that if Ed-
wards should not arrive by the 7th of June the committee
should adjourn without day ; but this was not agreed to. Cuth-
bert and Forsyth addressed a note to the committee, requesting
that Mr. Noble, Senator from Indiana, and two or three other
persons, should be summoned to attend as witnesses to dis-
credit Edwards. Taylor gave me many details of proceedings
in the committee, manifesting the timid, insidious, and treach-
erous partiality of Webster, to which Livingston assents. He
mentioned to me several passages in the report in which he had
obtained alterations, from the most marked partiality in Craw-
ford's favor, to equal justice. He said it was not difficult to meet
the open and undisguised prejudices of Floyd, but it was hard
to manage those which came in insidious forms from elsewhere.
28th. My visitors this day at my house were a Mr. Crawson,
D. P. Cook, R. Little, H. Clay, the Speaker, and J. R. Poin-
sett, of South Carolina, to take leave. At the office, John L.
Sullivan, with Professor Silliman, and Messrs. Wadsworth and
Terry, and E. Wyer. In the course of the morning I called
at the President's.
Cook had not heard from N. Edwards ; but Dunn, the mes-
senger from the House sent to summon him, returned here this
evening, having left Edwards at Washington, Pennsylvania,
two hundred and thirty miles from hence, to come on by
the next stage. Cook is in great anxiety, knowing that the
majority of the committee remaining here are against Edwards,
agd aware of the prejudice against him in the public mind.
He regretted greatly the absence of Owen, upon whose in-
tegrity and firmness he relied.
Clay said little upon public affairs ; spoke with apparent cool-
ness of the affair of Edwards and Crawford, and complained of
having had, within these few days, a return of his dyspepsia.
Poinsett is going to New York, thence to Charleston, South
Carolina, and proposes, between this and the next session of
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Congress, to make a voyage to Europe. He said he was
willing to go to Naples, and see if anything could be done
there with certain claims which had been the object of Mr.
William Pinkney's unsuccessful mission there. Poinsett said
he would undertake nothing which would disqualify him for
his seat in Congress, and of course should receive no com-
pensation for what he might do. But if a frigate was going
out to the Mediterranean, he would be glad to take passage
in her, and to be the medium of any communication that the
Government might wish to make at Naples. He said he had
spoken of it this morning with the President, who had told
him he would confer concerning it with me.
I asked Poinsett whether, if he should go, he could not ex-
tend his trip further, and give us some account of the condition
of the Greeks. He said it would give him great satisfaction if
he could, but he was afraid there would not be time. He was
told the frigate would be ready to sail in three weeks, and in
that case she might, without going out of her way, touch and
take him up at Charleston. But he knew what three weeks
meant in the fitting out of a ship of war, and he believed he
could go to Charleston and return to New York before she
would be ready.
I spoke of this to the President, who appeared to be desirous
that Poinsett should go as he proposed, and that, if possible,
he should extend his excursion to Greece.
29th. Southard told me he was going upon business next
week to Norfolk. He said, too, that Van Buren and Dickerson
were gone to Richmond, whence they were to proceed on visits
to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, and there was much specu-
lation as to the object of their journey.
I said I had little doubt it was to prepare and concert tl)^
movement of Mr. Crawford's partisans in the event of his being
withdrawn or declining as a candidate for the Presidential elec-
tion, and my belief was they meant to take up Mr. Clay for
their substituted candidate.
Southard said Clay had expectations of that sort himself,
and had also been much elated by three meetings lately gotten
up in his favor in New Jersey, about which he had yesterday
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366 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
asked him several questions. The truth was that if those
meetings had been convened by those whom he suspected,
there was nothing that would so effectually secure against him
the vote of New Jersey, unless it was his being supported by
Mr. Dickerson.
I told him that my main reason for believing that Clay was
the man they intended to push for was the profligate opposi-
tion they had got up and pressed in Senate against the Con-
vention for the suppression of the slave-trade, the only object
of which was to use it as a weapon to raise a popular clamor
against me. This they would have avoided under the high
probability of Crawford's withdrawing from the field, if they
had not determined, at all events, to keep me out. This, I ob-
served, was Mr. Van Buren's course, although he was under
some personal obligation to me. I then told him in close
confidence of the transactions and correspondence which pre-
ceded the appointment of Smith Thompson as a Judge of the
Supreme Court of the United States last summer, and the dis-
tant and disguised grasping of Van Buren, both at that office
and at a mission abroad, of all which he had before known
nothing. I asked him whether he knew who it was that had
communicated Webster's secret notification to the President,
that if Edwards should produce no new proof of his charges
the committee would pronounce against him a sentence of
severe reprobation.
He said, no, but he suspected it was Poinsett.
I said that, as it had struck my mind, there was a baseness
in it that had revolted me beyond measure. Its object, appar-
ently, was to urge the President to remove Edwards, and at the
same time to reserve a retreat into impartiality if the President
should not prove sufficiently pliable. It seemed to me as if
the Judges of the Supreme Court having before them a man
upon trial for life and death should send a secret message to
the President saying, If you will execute this man we will con-
demn him.
Southard said the illustration was a strong one, but he
thought it correct.
I said this was not the only underhand artifice of Webster's
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to operate upon the public mind against Edwards, and if the
whole committee should be swayed in this manner, and the
President should yield to it, as he seemed to be disposed, I ex-
pected he would call upon the members of his Administration
for their opinions on the question whether he should remove
Edwards ; and if he should thus call upon me, I would expose
the whole of this vile intrigue to the nation. But as the Presi-
dent had withheld the name of the person through whom Web-
ster had thus felt his pulse, there was evidently some reserve
yet upon this affair, and I should not press for the information.
Southard said the President was so harassed that he scarcely
knew where to set his foot. But if Poinsett was still here, he
would ask him whether he was the person who had made the
communication from Webster, and he had no doubt he would
tell him ; and he would see me again to-morrow.
I called at the President's for my draft of a dispatch to R.
Rush, to go with the ratified Convention. He read and ap-
proved it. He also spoke of N. Edwards, and of the expecta-
tion of his arrival here on Monday.
I asked him if he had understood that the communication
made to him of Mr. Webster's statement, that the committee
would severely censure Edwards if he should produce no fur-
ther evidence in support of his charges against Mr. Crawford,
was intended by Mr. Webster to be made.
He said, no ; it was merely a notice given him by a friend,
that he might be prepared for such a result.
30th. Mr. Southard was at church, and, on coming out,
told me that he had found Mr. Poinsett was gone, and he had
not had an opportunity of conversing with the President since
he had seen me yesterday. Seaton, the junior editor of the
National Intelligencer, spoke to me of the publication in that
paper of the documents relating to the Convention for the
suppression of the slave-trade. They were published on Friday
and yesterday — but incomplete and garbled. The two extracts
from the reports of Committees of the House of Representatives
in 1 82 1 and in 1822, annexed to the President's message to the
Senate of the 21st instant, were suppressed, on the pretence of
a want of room for them, while nearly a whole column of
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368 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
counter-argument against the Convention was introduced as
editorial, but written by John Holmes, the Senator from Maine,
the same who had before attempted to prevent the publication
of the proceedings of the Senate upon the Convention at all.
And at the same time, while the Intelligencer of the morn-
ing published the documents thus mutilated, the Washington
Gazette of the evening charged the suppression of the omitted
papers to me, as if they had been withheld from the Senate to
screen me from the public indignation. .
I gave notice to the President of the manner in which the
publication had been made in the Intelligencer, and I asked
Mr. Brent to speak to Seaton about it — to tell him that I
should cause a publication of the documents to be made in the
National Journal, extra, with notice that that in the Intelligencer
was incomplete. And I requested him to speak to Force, to
have the documents accurately published.
Seaton apologized to me to-day for the defectiveness of the
publications. He said they had published the proceedings of
the Senate as he had received them from Mr. Mercer, and had
omitted the extracts from the two reports of Committees of the
House supposing them not to be material, and because they had
been published before (meaning when the reports were made).
I observed to him the effect upon the view of the subject
exhibited to the public, of the omission of the extracts, and of
the insertion of the editorial article of argument against the
right of search.
He said that article was written by a member of the Senate,
and was published just as he had given it. He told D. Brent
yesterday that this Senator was J. Holmes, of Maine.
31st. Mr. Addington came to enquire if I was ready to dis-
patch the ratified Convention. I had inclined to have sent it
by a special messenger, and last week had asked Addington if
he could have a passage in the packet, to which he had im-
mediately assented. But the moment a suspicion of a special
messenger got wind, I was beset with conflicting applications
for it, so that I could not have gratified one applicant without
mortifying others; and the fund is so scanty from which the
expense of a special messenger must have been paid, that I
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concluded to save it, and to send the Convention by Mr. Ad-
dington's messenger. I read to him the whole of my instruc-
tion to R. Rush, to go with the ratified Convention, with which
he appeared to be entirely satisfied ; and I had the Convention
with the instruction packed in a small trunk, addressed to Mr.
Rush, sealed up. and delivered, with the key of the trunk, to
Mr. Addington this evening.
D. P. Cook came, and told me that he expected the arrival
of Mr. Edwards this evening. Cook said he thought Edwards
ought to resign his appointment as Minister to Mexico and
devote himself to the complete development of this affair.
And, as he could probably expect no justice from this com-
mittee, he would determine whether on that avowed ground
to decline pursuing the subject before them, and make a direct
appeal to Congress or to the nation, or, after protesting against
those members of the committee who had prejudged the case
and taken side against him, to proceed in the investigation.
I agreed with him that the best course for Mr. Edwards to
take was to resign his oflfice ; but I thought he should not de-
cline the investigation so far as it personally concerned himself.
I remarked that in the present state of Mr. Crawford's health it
would be, I thought, at once wise and generous in Mr. Edwards
if he would offer to take the report of the committee, so far
as it went, to acquit or excuse Mr. Crawford, as final and con-
clusive, and to disclaim the intention of pressing farther any
investigation of his oflficial conduct.
Wyer called at the office, and spoke of the state of Mr. Craw-
ford's health, which is a problem.
Mr. Ironside brought me an Act of Congress which in the
hurry of the last day of the session, and among the forty or
fifty Acts then brought to the President for his examination and
signature, by some accident missed of being signed by him.
The question is, whether it can be signed by him now. It is
an Act concerning wreckers on the coast of Florida. I desired
Mr. Brent to ascertain whether it had been announced to the
House in which the bill originated that it had been signed.
Day, Rise between six and seven. Breakfast between nine
and ten. With this interval, I write and receive visitors till
VOL. VI. — 24
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370 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
between one and two. Then at the office and the President's
till between five and six. Home to dine. Walk after dinner.
Write or receive visitors till near midnight. This is the very
regular course of my occupations. My time is chiefly worn
out with visitors, of whom the number personally received in
the course of the month has been two hundred and sixty-four.
I never exclude any one. But necessary and important busi-
ness suffers by the unavoidable waste of time. To keep pace
in this diary with the course of events, in the minuteness that
I have done for the present month, is impossible.
June 1st. Mr. Hay, to tell me of what he called the second
Lowriad — a paper written by him, and published in the Wash-
ington Republican of this evening, to prove that the President
never read any letter of General Jackson either to Lowrie, or
to Jonathan Roberts, or to A. Lacock.
Wirt, who has just returned from Baltimore, came to talk
with me about Mr. Edwards and the President's extreme anxi-
eties relating to him. He said that Edwards ought to resign ;
that the President, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Southard were all of
that opinion, and that he (Wirt) was decidedly so. I told him
that had been my opinion from the beginning ; that Mr. Cook
had yesterday told me it was his, and I had unequivocally ex-
pressed to him that it was mine — of which I had no doubt that
he had informed Mr. Edwards.
Wirt said he had a great regard and friendship for Edwards,
and regretted to find, as he had seen at Baltimore, that the
opinion of all parties was against him. I said it was so every-
where, and far more so than he deserved, because the real
merits of the principal question between him and Mr. Craw-
ford were not considered by the public. In their controversies,
Mr. Crawford was the first aggressor, as far back as the appoint-
ment of Jesse B. Thomas, Edwards's rival and competitor in
Illinois, to examine the land offices and banks in that and the
neighboring States. That was undoubtedly a movement in
concert with Thomas for purposes hostile to Edwards. From
that time they have been in adverse positions, and with mutual
recriminations, till Crawford's ambiguous imputation of per-
jury to Edwards, in the report to the House of 22d March last.
Digitized by
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i824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 371
This was a charge at once insidious and cruel. Edwards was
bound to meet and repel it. But, as he had not left the city
when it was made, he should have stopped and met it here.
By leaving the city and sending back his address from Wheel-
ing, by blending with it charges of official malfeasance against
Crawford, and by avowing himself the author of the anony-
mous A. B. publications of the last year, he has placed himself
in the position of a public accuser, under circumstances most
unfavorable to himself. For although he has proved almost
every fact that he had alleged, yet Crawford's defence takes
off all the edge of evil intentions, and the public are not only
indulgent to all the errors and inadvertencies proved upon him,
but ascribe malicious and corrupt motives to Edwards for
bringing forward the charges. This is essentially unjust; but
such is the public prepossession, and Edwards may fall a victim
to it. The bias already taken by the committee bears. heavily
upon him, and the movements of Webster against him are of
the most fatal import.
Wirt said that he himself had known comparatively nothing
of the case, as I had now unfolded it to him.
I said that in the political consequences of this affair I had
so much of an indirect interest myself that I distrusted my
own judgment concerning it. I was very apprehensive that
the President might require a formal opinion from the mem-
bers of his Administration upon the question whether he
should remove Edwards from the mission to Mexico. If he
did, I should in the first instance request him, in consideration
of the peculiarity of my situation, to excuse me from giving
an opinion. But if he should then require it, I would give it.
I had much conversation with J. W. Taylor concerning the
movements in New York and the Investigating Committee.
He thinks that the resumption of General Jackson as the
candidate of Mr. Clinton and his party will give the vote of
the State with certainty to Mr. Crawford. He also supposes
that the committee will confine their investigation entirely to
the official conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury. He
mentioned a publication made by Edwards at Louisville on
his way to this place, and it was republished in the Washing-
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372 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
ton Republican of this evening; and with it the letter from
Stephenson, the Receiver of public moneys, and President of
the bank of Edwardsville, which none of the oflficers in the
Treasury had any recollection of having been received, and
which the report of the committee argues to have been prob-
ably never written. This statement of the committee has a
very harsh aspect against Edwards, who had testified that the
letter was written in his presence.
Taylor said that this was a mere incorrectness of expression
in the report, which would be explained.
I told him I thought it hardly right in the committee to have
reported at all, after sending for Edwards, and before he could
arrive here.
He said it would have been impossible to have satisfied the
House of Representatives without making some report before
they adjourned ; but I thought the committee should have
been inflexible upon that point. He told me that Mr. Edwards
was ill, and had been this day confined to his bed.
2d. John W. Taylor came in the evening, and I told him I
had apprehended I had spoken to him yesterday freely respect-
ing the proceedings of the committee. I wished to assure him
that I had intended to apply no censure whatever upon him,
and I hoped I had said nothing which could in any manner
hurt his feelings. He said I had not — that I had expressed my
opinions ffeely but not offensively. He said Edwards was yet
ill. The committee have adjourned to next Monday ; Living-
ston being gone to New York, and Webster to Philadelphia.
3d. Mr. Swift, Consul of Portugal at Alexandria, who
brought me a vehement protest from the Portuguese Charge
d'Affaires, Joaquim Barroso Pereyra, against the reception of
Mr. Rebello as Charge d'Affaires from the Emperor of Brazil.
General Houston asked me if I had heard of any project of
setting up J. Forsyth as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency.
I had not, and was much surprised at the question. He said
it had been seriously contemplated in the event of Mr. Craw-
ford's being withdrawn on account of his health, an event
deemed probable, and that it was connected with a plan to
support Mr. Clay for the Presidency; connected also with
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the visit of Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Dickerson to Richmond
and Monticeilo. Houston said he had himself a high regard
for all the Presidential candidates except Mr. Crawford, who
had wronged him personally in the year i8i6^but he did not
explain how.
I called at the President's, and read to him Mr. Pereyra's
passionate protest. Mr. Calhoun was there, and J. McLean,
the Postmaster-General, afterwards came in. Calhoun was
there, to introduce the Cherokee chiefs. Major Ridge, Ross,
Lowry, and Hicks, who have spent the winter here, and now
came to take leave of the President. Ridge, the first chief of
the delegation, who speaks no English, made a short address
in their language to the President, which was interpreted by
Ross and Lowry. It was merely an expression of thanks for
the reception and treatment they had met here, and assurances
that they would remember it after their return home. There
was less of Indian oratory, and more of the common style
of white discourse, than in the same chiefs speech on their
first introduction. The President answered briefly, by general
expressions of kindness and interest in their favor.
The manners and deportment of these men have in no respect
differed from those of well-bred country gentlemen. They
have frequented all the societies, where they have been invited
at evening parties, attended several drawing-rooms, and most
of Mrs. Adams's Tuesday evenings. They dress like ourselves,
except that Hicks, a young and very handsome man, wore
habitually a purfled scarf. He and Ross are half-breeds, and
Ross is the writer of the delegation. They have sustained a
written controversy against the Georgia delegation with great
advantage.
The President this day gave me two sheets of paper, dated
20th and 2 1 St January, 1823, being confirmations by the Senate
of nominations to office at the session of Congress before the
last. These papers had been loosely mixed among others now
nearly eighteen months, and for want of these confirmations
new nominations, in several instances, have been made, at this
last session, of persons whose appointments were already com-
plete— among them, that of Mr. Woodbridge as Secretary of
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374 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS, [June,
the Michigan Territory, who I feared had been in the same
predicament with Governor Miller, of Arkansas — acting up-
wards of a year without any appointment. These irregularities
happen for want of system in the multiplicity of business always
crowding upon the President, and, above all, from his want of
an eflficient private Secretary.
4th. J. S. Barbour, member of the House of Representatives.
Barbour told me he had been summoned back from home to
attend the Investigating Committee as a witness. He became
such in this manner. A letter was published in the Richmond
Enquirer stating that when the nomination of Edwards for the
Mexican mission was before the Senate, Mr. Noble, Senator
from Indiana, with a view to the vote he should give upon that
nomination, asked Edwards if he was the author of the A. B.
letters, which Edwards positively and solemnly denied. The
writer of this letter is understood to be T. Benton, the Senator
from Missouri. When the letter in the Enquirer appeared
here, Barbour being in conversation concerning it with Mr.
Clay, the Speaker, Clay observed that the mere denial of being
the author of an anonymous publication was justifiable; it
was the writer's secret, and he had the right to disconcert
improper curiosity by a direct denial. But if the question was
asked by a Senator with a view to his vote upon a nomination,
then a denial contrary to the truth would be, in his opinion, dis-
honorable. A few minutes afterwards, Barbour, meeting Noble,
had asked him how it had been ; and Noble told him that Mr.
Edwards had in the most positive and solemn manner denied
to him that he had been the author of the A. B. letters, but
that it had been without any reference whatever to the nomina-
tion in the Senate or to Noble's vote upon it. And hereupon
Noble and Benton are summoned to discredit Edwards; and
Barbour to discredit Noble, by proving that he told the story
two different ways, inconsistent with each other. Cook told
me that Edwards, besides the copy of Stephenson's letter
which had been in question, had also found at the Land Office
a copy of another letter, written about ten days later, and
referring to it. He said also that Edwards had received a con-
fidential letter from a friend, saying that a Clerk in the Treasury
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had told him that the letter from Stephenson had been received
and was several days in the Secretary's possession. But he
does not name the Clerk, and it is probable he will be unwilling
to testify.
Three Quakers came as a deputation from a society of their
persuasion to express to the Government their great anxiety
for the suppression of the slave-trade. They had been with
the President, who had requested them also to see me. They
stated their great concern that, from all the evidence they had
been able to collect, it appeared that the trade was carried on
more extensively and with greater inhumanity than ever. It
was carried on, they said, chiefly under the French flag; and
they came to enquire if some effectual appeal could not be
made to the Government of France to prevail upon them to
take measures for putting it down. I told them what had been
done, and what I hoped might yet be done, in negotiation with
the maritime powers, and promised them all the aid I could
give them for the accomplishment of their purpose.
H. Lee spoke of the book he has lately published against
Judge Johnson's Life of Greene, and of the letter from the
Marquis of Hastings to Lee's father in vindication of his con-
duct relative to the execution of Colonel Hayne during our
Revolutionary War. He said Mr. Cheves had questioned the
propriety of publishing that letter, as it seemed to bear hard
upon the character of Hayne ; but I thought this was not a
sufficient reason for withholding it.
6th. I called at Mr. Fletcher's and saw Mr. N. Edwards. He
is quite unwell, suffering with a very severe cough from a cold
taken upon his journey to this place. He spoke of his address,
and of his motives for sending it from Wheeling. He said
when Mr. Crawford's report of 22d March was put into his
hands he was on the very point of his departure ; his trunks
were all packed, and he had no papers or documents to which
he could resort. He saw that the paragraph in the report was
intended as an imputation of perjury against him, and he
thought he had no means of repelling it — not then recollecting
the correspondence between himself and Crawford of 9th and
1 2th February, 1822. He thought he had no means of self-
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376 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
defence but by going to Edwardsville. On his way to Wheel-
ing, however, many things occurred to his recollection, upon
which he determined to write his address. On arriving at
Edwardsville, he found not only the letter from Stephenson
which had been in question, but another of a later date referring
to it, and which he had no doubt had been also received by
Mr. Crawford. He has an ingenious argument to show that
Mr. Crawford did receive the first letter; but it raises a mere
probability, and the Clerk in the Treasury who had said that it
was received flinches from giving testimony to the fact.
Taylor remained here till near midnight. The committee
are to meet to-morrow. Webster has returned from Philadel-
phia, but Livingston has not come in from New York. Taylor
thought the publication by Edwards of Stephenson's letters
disrespectful to the committee. I said I should have thought
so too, if he could have thought the committee were impartial ;
but their bias was too apparent, and the letter in the Richmond
Enquirer, from the best authority (A. Stevenson), asserting that
one of the most distinguished members of the committee
(Webster) had said that if Edwards produced no stronger evi-
dence to support his charges the committee would pronounce
heavy censure upon him, shows the use of means to turn
against Edwards the current of public opinion so abhorrent
to my sense of justice that I scarcely know how to speak of
it with composure.
7th. Mr. Kingston came upon his claim of the last century,
but the copies of the papers were not yet made out. Mr. Ad-
dington, to enquire if any steps had been taken with the Gov-
ernment of South Carolina upon the State law prohibiting, upon
penalties, free colored persons from coming into the State in
vessels. I told him the directions which had been given to the
District Attorney at Charleston, and the failure, by the dis-
charge of the man, of an opportunity to bring the subject up
for the decision of the Supreme Court. I told him also that
I proposed writing to the Governor of South Carolina, and
sending him a copy of the papers remonstrating against the
operation of the law.
8th. The three Commissioners under the eleventh article of
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1824.1 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 377
the Florida Treaty, H. L. White, W. King, and L. W. Taze-
well, and their Secretary, Dr. Watkins. The Florida Claim
Commissioners closed their sessions and adjourned without day.
Dr. Watkins brought the volume of records of their proceed-
ings, and four schedules containing lists of the memorials
presented to them, and upon which they have acted — one of
which is to be transmitted to the Treasury Department, where
the claims are to be paid. There is a great mass of documents
and vouchers, which it is provided by the Convention shall be
deposited in the Department of State; and, as there will be for
some time frequent occasion to recur to them, the Commis-
sioners recommended that they should remain in the custody
of Dr. Watkins, the only person who understands the order
and arrangement in which they are kept.
I spoke to them of R. W. Meade's protest. Mr. Tazewell
said they would furnish me with a minute and thorough
analysis of his claim, showing to demonstration that there
was no part of it within the treaty; that Spain was bound
to pay it.
Judge White said that the board had perhaps rejected some
claims that were good, and admitted some that ought to have
been rejected. Some such mistakes were unavoidable; but the
errors were not considerable, and he hoped that, on the whole,
substantial justice had been done.
On taking leave of the Commissioners, I thanked them, in
behalf of the Executive Government, for the zeal, industry,
and ability with which they had discharged the duties of the
Commission.
Griswold had letters of introduction from C. King and H.
Wheaton. He was the bearer of a letter from the Presidents
of ten insurance companies in New York, complaining of the
capture of three United States vessels by the Colombian priva-
teer General Santander, Captain Chase, of Baltimore ; and two
depositions showing that all the officers of the privateer were
American citizens, and that forty men of her crew were enlisted
at New Orleans and shipped at the Balize.
I took these papers to the President. He had received
a Baltimore newspaper containing a long communication to
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378 MEMOIRS OF yOHAT QVINCY ADAMS. [June,
justify these captures. I left with him the papers brought by
Mr. Griswold; and he determined that Watkins should be
retained as long as should be necessary, in custody of the
Florida Claim Commission papers, with a continuance of the
salary he has had as their Secretary.
Mr. Wirt spent a couple of hours with me this evening, and
spoke much of N. Edwards, of Webster, of J. Randolph, and
of Tazewell, who has written what Wirt calls a " Peeler" against
Webster and in support of Randolph, which is to be published
in the Richmond Enquirer.
9th. Messrs. Griswold and Ogden came upon the applica-
tion from the insurance companies at New York against the
depredations of the Colombian privateer General Santander.
I called at the President's, and he directed a Cabinet meeting
for to-morrow at one o'clock.
loth. Cabinet meeting at one. Messrs. Calhoun and Wirt
present. Mr. Southard is, with the Commissioners of the Navy,
on a tour to Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Anderson, the Comptroller,
was with the President upon a question concerning the transfer
of fifteen thousand dollars from the appropriation for compen-
sation to the members of the House of Representatives to that
of the contingent expenses of the House — the latter of these
appropriations for the present year being deficient that sum,
and the former redundant. The question was upon the power
of the President to direct the transfer;' and that depends on
the question whether the expenditures of the House of Repre-
sentatives may constructively be considered as expenditures
of the Treasury Department. Mr. Wirt thinks they may. No
decision this day. The President had a letter from General
La Fayette, referring to the Resolution of Congress that a
public ship be sent to bring him to the United States. He
declares his intention to come this summer; but expresses a
preference to coming in a private ship, from various consider-
ations, without positively declining it. The President, who
thought that important political consequences were involved
in this personal compliment, offered for discussion whether a
» See United States Laws, Act of 2A M'i«*ch, 1 809, vol. iv. p. 221 ; Act of 3d
March, 1817, vol. vi. p. 235; Act of i6ih February, 1818, p. 256,
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public ship should, nevertheless, be sent to France for the
General, or whether a person should be sent out to attend him
as a companion hither. A letter from Mr. Brown confirmed
what was already known, that many people in France, perhaps
the Government party generally, have considered this invita-
tion as indicating strong hostility to the Bourbons. The more
of exhibition there is in carrying it into execution, the more
this sentiment will be felt ; and the President said he thought
the form in which it would show itself would be in slights to
Mr. Brown. And he related how, after the attack upon the
Chesapeake, the Queen of England, at a drawing-room, passed
him without speaking to him. On the other hand, if full effect
should not be given by the Executive to the Resolution of
Congress, the people of this country would be much dis-
satisfied.
There was much desultory conversation, but no decision.
Some remarks were made upon the inconsiderateness of the
Resolution; upon the expense which it must occasion, left en-
tirely unprovided for; of the inconveniences and charges upon
him, and the attitude of public exhibition under which he must
appear wherever he may go in this country. I thought he saw
much of this himself, and that he meant to decline coming out
in a public ship positively, though from delicacy he had not
said so in peremptory tones.
Another question discussed was, whether the President could
now sign the Act concerning the Florida wreckers, which was
examined and actually announced to the House as having been
signed, but accidentally, among forty or fifty other Acts ap-
proved the last evening before the close of the session, remained
without his signature. Could the President sign an Act, Con-
gress not being in session ? Wirt thought he could. So did
I. The article of the Constitution concerning the signature of
the President to Acts of Congress was read and analyzed.
Nothing in it requiring that the President should sign while
Congress are in session.
Calhoun said that uniform practice had established a prac-
tical construction of the Constitution.
I observed that the practice had merely grown out of the
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3 So MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
precedents in the British Parliament. But the principles were
different. The King was a constituent part of Parliament,
and no Act of Parliament could be valid without the King's
approbation. But the President is not a constituent part of
Congress, and an Act of Congress may be valid as law without
his signature or assent.
Calhoun still thought that the uniform practice made the
law.
Mr. Wirt also thought that as the President had examined
the Act for signature, and it had been announced that he had
signed it, he might sign it now, and date it as of that time,
" nunc pro tunc."
The President seemed to be afraid of the captious and
cavilling spirit of the time; and that there might be mis-
representation of motives if the Act should be signed in this
manner.
Calhoun was under the same impression. And as the Act
was to commence its operation only in October, and was not of
an urgent character, it was concluded to be the safest course to
leave the Act unsigned, and state the facts to Congress at their
next session.
The letter from the insurance companies at New York, and
the two depositions enclosed with it, were read and considered.
The captain, all the officers, and a large portion of the men of
the privateer General Santander, are citizens of the United
States. She took in forty men and part of her equipment in
the United States. She took and sent into Laguayra two ves-
sels of the United States, and took out twenty-six bales of
dry-goods from a third. I read a dispatch from H. Nelson,
mentioning complaints of Count Ofalia, the Spanish Minister
of Foreign Affairs, against depredations of South American
privateers fitted out in this country.
The President wished me to send for Mr. Salazar and remon-
strate with him, to give strong instructions to R. C. Ander-
son, and to send out Watts by the way of Laguayra, to demand
restitution.
All this I approved, but proposed also that instructions
should be given to our commanders of armed vessels to take
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the privateer General Santander and bring her in for trial.*
Mr. Wirt entered largely into the consideration of the effect of
those laws as expounded by the decisions of the United States
Courts, the conclusion of which was. that we could not require
of the republic of Colombia to acknowledge the principle that
free ships make free goods — neither by our treaty with Spain
nor by the law of nations ; that we could not take at sea, out of
our own jurisdiction, any vessel for violation of the law of 20th
April. 1 81 8; that we could take the privateer General Santan-
der for violation of the Act of 3d March, 1 8 19, only upon the
charge of haying taken out twenty-six bales of dry-goods from
one of our merchantmen, but that she could be taken for that.
Mr. Calhoun doubted the right of expatriation ; said he was
always against it in feeling, and had never committed himself
upon it during the late war.
I agreed with him in the sentiment, but said we had fore-
closed this argument against ourselves by the oath renouncing
foreign allegiance, which we required from foreigners as the
condition of naturalization. After long discussion, the meeting
was adjourned till to-morrow at noon.
nth. Cabinet meeting at noon. Calhoun and Wirt present.
Southard was expected this day, but will only be here to-mor-
row. I put a question which had not been much taken into
view yesterday — whether the unsigned Act of Congress is or
is not law without the President's signature ; the chief question
yesterday having been whether the President could now sign it.
The Constitution provides that unsigned and unreturned Acts
shall, after ten days, be law, unless Congress, by adjourning
within the ten days, prevent the return of the Act. In this
case the adjournment, though it took place within the ten days,
did not prevent the return, because the return with objections
had not been intended, and it had even been announced to
the House that it had been signed. Wirt thought, neverthe-
less, that the Act was not law; and so the President decided.
The case of the privateer General Santander was again de-
« By virtue of the Act of Congress of 20th April, 1818, United States Laws,
vol. vi. p. 320; of 3d March, 1819, ibid., p. 412; of 15th May, 1820, ibid., p. 529;
and of 30ih January, 1823, 17 C, 2 S., ch. 7, p. 5.
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382 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June,
bated. All the grounds of yesterday re-explored. I read the
paragraphs of my instructions to R. C. Anderson respecting
the obligation of our treaty with Spain upon the republic of
Colombia, and referred to the project of a commercial treaty
sent me by Salazar.
Mr. Wirt insisted that we could not, without inconsistency,
deny the right of belligerents by the law of nations to take the
property of enemies in neutral vessels, and read in the State
papers Mr. Jefferson's letter to Genest upon that subject. I con-
sidered the law of nations upon this point as unsettled ; but Mr.
Wirt's argument was supported by decisions of the Supreme
Court, against which the Executive Government could not
safely assume an adversary principle. That knot of national
law will always ultimately resolve itself into a question oi force.
The question as to the obligation of the republic of Co-
lombia to abide by the stipulation of the article of our Treaty
of 1 795 with Spain, made when Colombia formed a part of the
Spanish dominions, presents a problem of more complexity.
As a general principle, the independence of Colombia absolves
her from the engagements of the treaties of Spain with other
powers, but some of the obligations of those treaties remain
binding upon her, such, for example, as demarcations of bound-
aries; and there are strong equitable claims for considering
this stipulation of the number. I instanced the case of the
Emperor of Brazil, who has declared that he shall consider
himself bound by all the treaties of Portugal.
The opinion of Mr. Wirt, however, was that we could not
insist absolutely upon it. Mr. Calhoun concurred with it ; and,
although the President thought otherwise, I was sure it would
be a desperate attempt to maintain against a foreign State a
position upon which there is so much division among ourselves.
Mr. Wirt still thought that the privateer General Santander
might be taken for the twenty-six bales of goods taken out of
one of the captured vessels ; but I observed that I wished the
final determination not to be taken till to-morrow, when the
Secretary of the Navy will be here — the more as, upon looking
into the Colombian privateering ordinance, this Act appears to
be authorized by it. Further discussion, whether a frigate shall
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be sent for General La Fayette, and whether to Havre, Brest,
or Marseilles. Decision postponed.
Two Quakers, by the names of James and of Lytle, came
with a Mr. Howland to expound claims upon Great Britain, in
which James is interested, for captures in 1805 and 1807. James
is a man about fourscore years of age, and he gave me a long
account of these captures, and of all the proceedings upon them,
showing that great injustice had been done him, as he thought.
And he argued that, as the United States had made peace with
Great Britain without obtaining indemnity for his losses, they
were themselves bound to make him that indemnity.
This is a favorite argument of all sufferers by depredation
and wrong from foreign Governments. The argument of ab-
stract right is strong ; but as the justice obtainable from foreign
nations is at all times, and under every state of things, very im-
perfect, and as the only alternative in cases of denial of justice
is the abandonment of the claim or war, a nation by abandon-
ing the claim, after exhausting every pacific expedient for ob-
taining justice, neither partakes of the injustice done nor makes
itself responsible to the sufferer ; for war, even if it eventually
obtains justice for that sufferer, secures it by the s.ufferings of
thousands of others equally unmerited, and which must ulti-
mately remain unindemnified. And mere inability to obtain
justice cannot incur the obligation which it is unable to enforce.
1 2th. At the President's. Mr. Anderson, the Comptroller,
Southard, and Wirt were there. They both agreed that the
President had the power to transfer the appropriation from the
pay of members to the contingent expenses of the House of
Representatives. I did not concur in the opinion, but had not
thoroughly examined the laws or the question. I thought
the House ought to be made sensible themselves of the em-
barrassments resulting from their own excessive restrictions.
It is only by a broad latitude of construction that the power
of transfer can in this case be assumed. But it is of urgent
necessity, and the President gave the order.
The case of the Colombian privateer General Santander
was again considered. The taking of enemy's property out
of a neutral ship is authorized by the Colombian privateering
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384 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
ordinance ; and so is the fitting out of privateers by foreigners.
I had received a letter from C. J. Ingersoll, proposing that we
should proclaim and enforce a new and liberal American law
of nations, and particularly that free ships should make free
goods, which I read at this meeting. But it was unanimously
determined not to resort at this time to force, but to dispatch
as soon as possible B. T. Watts, directing him to land at
Laguayra and endeavor there to obtain the restoration of the
property; to send strong instructions to Anderson, urging the
principle of free ships making free goods, and remonstrating
against the employment of our citizens as officers and crews
of their privateers. I am also to send for Mr. Salazar, the
Colombian Minister, to come here, and confer with him upon
the subject; and there, is to be another meeting on Monday
for final determination relating to it.
Wyer called in after dinner, and intimated that Scott, of
Missouri, had told him that Noble's testimony given before
the Committee of Investigation this day had implicated Mr.
Calhoun in the proceedings of Edwards against Crawford ;
and that it was of the most decisive character against Edwards
himself; and that Edwards himself had refused to answer
some interrogatories of the committee.
13th. D. Brent had called on me before church, and men-
tioned that he had been present yesterday at the examination
of Mr. Noble, and that it must operate most unfavorably to
Mr. Edwards. J. W. Taylor was at church, and, after the ser-
vice was over, I went in with him to his brother's, where he
now lodges, and he gave me a summary account of the pro-
ceedings of the committee. Noble's testimony was of the
strongest character against 'him^-evidently studied for opera-
tion and effect; not only strong as to a positive and absolute
denial by Edwards that he was the author of the. A. B. letters,
but for a high panegyric upon the ability and integrity of Mr.
Crawford, and upon his great services to the Western country,
pronounced by him. L. Cheves also pronounced a high eulo-
gium upon Mr. Crawford's management of the finances, and
particularly upon his transactions with the Western banks.
The second letter from Stephenson, a copy of which Edwards
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i824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, jgj
has brought, is not found at the Treasury, nor recollected by
any person there. Edwards delivered in yesterday a reply to
Mr. Crawford's answer, longer than his address, but it was not
read, the committee having sat till ten last night examining
Edwards and Noble. Benton 'acknowledged himself the writer
of the letter in the Richmond Enquirer reporting incorrectly
the statement of Noble, and Benton acknowledged that he had
misunderstood him. Upon J. S. Barbour's speaking to Cook,
after Noble had given his testimony, Benton said that Noble
must not go, as an attempt would be made to discredit him.
Floyd's bias continues as it has been from the beginning;
Webster's, equally strong, though less apparent ; McArthur's,
growing. Livingston still retains something like a balance.
14th. At noori attended the Cabinet meeting. Calhoun,
Southard, and Wirt present. Case of the Colombian privateer
General Santander. The President read a paper that he had
drawn — not finished, but which he proposed to issue as a
proclamaticm or public declaration of our principles relating to
neutrality, and to South America. The whole subject was
discussed in a desultory manner. Mr. Wirt was confirmed in
his opinion that the Colombian republic is not bound to admit
the principle that free ships make free goods, either by the law
of nations or by our treaty with Spain. And as the Colombian
privateering ordinance authorizes foreigners to fit out and take
commissions for privateers under their flag, and also to take
enemy's property out of neutral ships, Chase cannot be taken
or tried as a pirate upon either of those grounds. The right of
expatriation was again brought into question, and Mr. Calhoun
expressed very strongly the opinion that citizens of the United
States, native born, have no such right, except Virginians, by
virtue of a law of the State.
Mr. Wirt recurred to the decisions of the Supreme Court, of
which there have been several, admitting the right of expatria-
tion as a general principle, but denying it in every particular
case that has come before them. The last was in 1822, the
Santissima Trinidad, in which they refused to acknowledge the
expatriation of a Captain Chaytor, under circumstances similar
to those of Chase in this case — reported in the seventh volume
VOL. VI.— 25
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386 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
of Wheaton. The result is, that we are to treat the whole
subject diplomatically, and write much, but not to issue orders
to take and bring in the privateer. Mr. Calhoun and Mr.
Southard were both averse to the President's issuing the decla-
ration or manifesto that he had contemplated ; and he gave up
the idea. There was some talk of publishing an article in the
National Intelligencer, holding out threats of issuing orders for
taking Chase and his privateer, which it was supposed would
frighten him off and deter others; but I disapprove all menaces
as measures of government when you determine not to strike.
The President rests much upon general considerations — upon
our interest and policy to sustain the South American nations.
17th. At the President's. Edward Livingston with him when
I went in. Withdrew. The President spoke of the proceedings
of the committee. I had heard little of them since Sunday.
Rumors of Benton's pistol purchase, and of a duel in perspective
between Forsyth and Cook. After dinner, call at King's, the
painter. Solitary walk., J. W. Taylor. Dispositions of the com-
mittee. Webster's eagerness to censure Edwards. Noble's tes-
timony against him. Taylor's objection to censure, the House
not being in session to correct the report of the committee if
wrong. One of two views to be taken — to state Edwards by
facts to be the aggressor, or directly to pronounce the charges
frivolous and malignant.
19th. Calhoun read me a letter to the Committee of Investi-
gation, and one to D. Webster, that he had written, stating the
fact that N. Edwards had sent through him to D. P. Cook the
packet from Wheeling containing his address to the House,
but stating that he had no other knowledge of it, and offering
to give any information to the committee that they might de-
sire. He said that he had read the draft of these letters this
morning to the President, who at first thought it would be
proper to send them. But Mr. Southard and Mr. Wirt after-
wards coming in, it had been thought, on reflection, that it
would have the appearance of volunteering testimony, and that
Edwards had lost himself, and would certainly sink under this
affair, so that interference now might connect unnecessarily
the Administration with the odium which would be attached
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1824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. - 387
to him ; that the efiTort of Mr. Crawford's agents now was to
fix upon the President and other members of the Administra-
tion a combination and concert with Edwards to attack Craw-
ford; while the fact was directly the reverse, and Crawford's
career had been an uninterrupted series of attacks upon the
Administration, always disavowed or disguised by himself;
that, in this state of things, the cause of the Administration
should be kept as distinct as possible from that of Edwards,
and when the issue is made with Crawford it should be on
independent ground. To this Calhoun yielded, but brought
the letters to me to consult me upon them.
I said I should not oppose my opinion to those of the Presi-
dent, Mr. Southard, and Mr. Wirt. But I believed it would
ultimately be impossible to avoid the issue, and inclined to
think it would be as well to take it now as at any time. I had
observed in the newspapers statements that Cook and Edwards
had declined answering the question through whom the packet
had been transmitted, and intimations that it had gone through
the War Office. But there was another occasion on which his
(Calhoun's) name had been mentioned by Noble, in relating his
conversation with Edwards ; and upon a call from Edwards to
tell all the conversation, he had stated that Edwards told him
he had long expected this Mexican appointment ; that the Pres-
ident was in his power through the means of Colonel Lane,
and that Mr. Calhoun Here the witness was stopped
by Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Forsyth had agreed that it was not
relevant. Now, this stopping of the testimony would operate
worse on the public mind than if everything had come out.
And come out it all ultimately must.
Calhoun said he believed so too, but that it should be by the
President's acting directly upon Crawford. It was impossible
for an Administration in this country to get along with one of
its members in secret and perpetual hostility against it. This
had been the case with Crawford from 1816 down to this day.
And what had been for the last nine months the situation of
the Treasury ? No Secretary but Asbury Dickins ; scarcely
any papers signed by Mr. Crawford — and a fac-simile engraved,
and his daughter's hand used, even for most of these.
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, 388 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
I asked if these were facts.
They were said to be.
Did the President know what the real management at the
Treasury was ? ,
He believed not.
Had the President any distrust of Mr. Crawford ?
He believed he had noiv, from what he had said this morning.
I said the President had never intimated to me the slight-
est distrust of Crawford, and I had never hinted a sentiment
of distrust of him to the President. In the case of L. Harris,
he had sworn to the thing that was not, but I attributed it
altogether to an error of memory. I had two years ago put
to the President certain questions in writing, which he had
promised me he would answer in writing, but had not yet done
so. As the material fact was of the day when a thing was
said, I was afraid that his own memory would not serve him
to speak precisely. But he would not, for he could not, sus-
tain the assertion of Crawford. I had done everything that
man could honestly do to keep on terms with him. But I
expected it would ultimately not be possible.
He asked if the President could not now remove him.
I said. No, he could not, because, though for years he had
been giving ample cause for it, there was yet nothing new
upon which a case could be made out. Much more conversa-
tion to this effect.
20th. N. Edwards at church, and took a seat with me; has
a sepulchral cough. Met D. P. Cook, who walked home with
me. Committee have closed their examinations. Edwards
proposed last night, and repeated the proposal this morning,
that Crawford should be examined. Noble's testimony. Cook
says Edwards explicitly denies the encomium upon Crawford
attested by Noble. I said, if it was not true, he ought to meet
it by most explicit denial to the committee. He says also
that O'Neal had told General Jackson that a Clerk in the
Treasury had told him Mr. Crawford had received Stephenson's
letter in 1819; that Jackson told it to Eaton, by whom Ed-
wards was informed of it. Cook has seen O'Neal, who con-
firms this statement, and says that since the publication of
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Stephenson's letter he took it to the person, who read it, and
said that was the letter, but he would upon no earthly con-
sideration consent to be summoned to testify to the fact. And
O'Neal was equally unwilling to be examined, and objected
that it would implicate General Jackson. Upon which, Cook
said, Edwards had concluded rather to lose the benefit of the
testimony than to involve Jackson. He said there was nothing
to affect Edwards's credit except Noble's testimony, and if the
committee should report against Edwards, he thought he
would resign and make his final appeal to Congress at their
next session.
2 1st. Note from the President. Cabinet meeting at half-past
nine. Report of the Committee of Investigation, with all the
documents, brought about noon, by Webster, and Clarke, Clerk
of H. R., to the President. Calhoun, Southard, and Wirt pres-
ent. Papers read. Report of the committee. Edwards's
reply to Crawford's answer. His argument on the evidence.
Forsyth's remarks. Depositions of Noble, Mason, Elkins,
Wharton, Seaton, and Dickins. Much discussion upon what
is to be done. The President read a draft of a notification to
Edwards of the revocation of his commission as Minister to
Mexico.
I questioned upon what assignable motive this step could
be taken. The committee have passed no censure upon him.
But it is apprehended that Noble's testimony of his having
denied that he was the author of the A. B. publications, and
pronounced a panegyric upon Mr. Crawford, while the nomina-
tion to the Mexican mission was before the Senate, will blast
his character before the nation ; and the President thinks that if
he does not remove him, his own character will be blasted too.
Calhoun said that every one of Edwards's charges against
Mr. Crawford was substantiated, but still thought that he must
be removed, unless he should resign.
Mr. Wirt and Mr. Southard concurred in this opinion.
Mine was that Mr. Edwards, for his own sake and in justice
to his own character, ought to resign, but that this act ought
to be entirely voluntary on his part, and, if he should not
resign, there was nothing in the report of the committee or
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390 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June.
in the proceedings of the House or in the documents, which
would justify the President in removing him.
Much warm and animated discussion upon this point. In
supporting with the most conscientious earnestness my own
sentiment, I avowed the determination to acquiesce in the
decision of the President.
It was thought advisable to ascertain, what were Mr. Ed-
wards's own intentions, and Mr. Wirt, as his particular and in-
timate friend, was requested to see and converse with Mr. Cook
to this end.
1 was earnestly desirous that this consultation should be
confined merely to the enquiry what Mr. Edwards proposed
to do, without intimating to him even a wish on the part of
the Executive that he would resign. The subject assumed a
range of discussion involving the whole conduct of the Ad-
ministration from its commencement; the unvaried hostile
position of all Mr. Crawford's partisans to the Administration,
and his own ambiguous conduct, always disavowing, yet never
controlling, the opposition of his friends, were freely noticed.
The President read parts of a letter from Crawford to him of
4th July, 1822, of his answer written in August, and of a reply
from Crawford in September or October, all originating in a
letter from A. Scott, then at Pensacola, to Crawford, mention-
ing a rumor there, that he was to be removed.
This correspondence was a partial clearing up of clouds
and suspicions, and terminated in the expression of the Presi-
dent's wish that Crawford should continue in the Administra-
tion. He disavowed any intentional opposition, explained some
oppositions of opinion, and intimated suspicions that, from two
quarters, prejudices against him had been excited in the Presi-
dent's mind, which the President in reply pointedly denies.
As the President omitted the reading of most of those parts
of the letter, I asked him if I was one of the persons alluded
to; which he declined answering.
The state of the Treasury for the last nine months was ad-
verted to, and the question asked whether the President knew
what it was. He knew only generally from the reports of the
Comptroller, Anderson, that all was correctly transacted ; but
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rumors are in circulation, concerning which the President de-
clared his determination to enquire further.
The meeting lasted till near seven in the evening, and was
adjourned till eight to-morrow morning.
After dinner I called to see J. W. Taylor, who goes early
to-morrow for home. He mentioned to me many particulars
of the proceedings of the committee. Floyd, the Chairman,
offered a resolution declaring the charges of Edwards frivolous
and malicious. This no other member of the committee sup-
ported; but Webster unceasingly labored to get a sentiment
inserted into the report to the same effect. This was resisted
by Taylor, who was supported by Livingston, and resulted in
a compromise greatly moderating the proposed panegyric of
Webster upon the management of the Treasury by Mr. Craw-
ford, and forbearing all expression of sentiment against Ed-
wards. From Webster's conduct in the committee, Taylor has
no doubt that he is a thorough-going political partisan of Mr.
Crawford, and he connects with it his late visit to Buchanan in
Pennsylvania, his persuading Noble, who had already reached
Pennsylvania on his way home, to come back and testify against
Edwards, and other movements in concert with other persons.
Taylor had seen McLean, who, he said, was alarmed at this
new and extensive federal organization for Crawford, and told
him he had information that the electoral law would not pass
in New York. He referred also to a letter in the Richmond
Enquirer composing in substance an Administration for Craw-
ford, of Van Buren, Forsyth, Webster, and McLane, and a
corresponding article in praise of Buchanan in Binns's paper at
Philadelphia. McLean's conclusion was, of the absolute neces-
sity that Jackson should be given up by all who mean to oppose
the election of Crawford. Taylor told me he might probably
see Clinton at New York, and asked if he should converse
with him, as had been heretofore proposed. I said, yes, but
advised him to say nothing that would either import reliance
upon Clinton, or expectation of support from him. With this
he fully concurred.
22d. Cabinet meeting from eight a.m. till half past nine in the
evening, with the interval of about an hour to dine, which we
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392 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [June.
did at the President's. Present Calhoun, Southard, and Wirt.
Mr. Wirt mentioned that he had seen and conversed last even-
ing and this morning with Mr. Cook ; that in the course of the
day Mr. Edwards would send in his resignation, or give notice
that he should expect an intimation from the President to that
effect.
I then observed that I remained of the same opinion that I
had entertained from the beginning of this affair : that for his
own sake, for the support of his own character, and to take
away all color of surmise that the President or any member
of his Administration was in concert with him in his con-
troversy with Mr. Crawford, he ought to resign his office ; but
that if he should not perform this act voluntarily, I was of
opinion not only that he ought not to be removed, but that no
intimation should be given him of a wish on the part of the
Executive that he should resign ; that he should be ordered to
proceed immediately to Mexico, with a reservation that if at
the next session of Congress the House should adopt any
measure requiring his presence, he should be prepared to ex-
pect his recall, and to return at the shortest notice to the
United States, so as to be here in the course of the session. I
assigned at large my reasons for this opinion, which were, that
there was nothing in the course of proceedings, either of the
House or of the committee, that would warrant his removal.
So far as the report of the committee went to palliate, to excuse,
and to justify Mr. Crawford, I had no objection to make to it;
that there was in the committee partiality to Mr. Crawford was
certain, and the motives for it were easily seen — a prevailing
popular clamor against Edwards, and personal impulses of in-
^rest and ambition in the breast of Mr. Webster, to catch the
rospect of advancement in the event of Crawford's election ;
et, with all this partiality, the committee had not expressed
sentiment of the slightest censure upon Edwards. Though
V^ebster had caused a secret and most improper intimation to
e given to the President that the committee would censure
Edwards, though he had caused most improperly the same
ling to be published in the Richmond Enquirer, he had not
een able to prevail upon the committee to express any such
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censure. What foundation of justice, therefore, was there for
the Executive to inflict upon Mr. Edwards the whole punish-
ment that he could if the most pointed vote of censure had
been passed upon him by the committee? Nay, if he had
been convicted upon impeachment, the whole extent of the
power of the President would have been to remove him. And
what purpose could that now answer but to give Mr. Crawford
a triumph, not merely of justification, but of revenge?
Mr. Wirt said that the course which I proposed would, he
believed, be that which would in after-times appear to have
been the most just and honorable; but that he could not help
being affected by the prevailing popular prejudice — the uni-
versal reprobation of Edwards in the public mind, first excited
by his apparent running away from his own accusation, and
next by the general impression that upon his recent examina-
tion he had entirely sunk and lost himself before the com-
mittee, and finally by the testimony of Noble, fixing upon him
the solemn denial, while his nomination was before the Senate,
that he was the author of the A. B. publications, which he so
shortly afterwards avowed, and a high panegyric upon Mr.
Crawford, whom he so shortly afterwards accused. These
things so affected his moral reputation that it seemed scarcely
possible to send him a^ a Minister in a foreign country without
the Government itself catching the infection with which his
name is tainted.
About this stage of the discussion came in a letter from Mr.
Edwards to the President, resigning his commission, enclosed
in a note requesting that he would keep it a few days before
filing it in the Department of State, that he might determine
whether he should assign his reasons for his resignation.
This immediately changed the topic of deliberation. Mr.
Wirt said that if there was no sufficient reason for removing
Edwards there was, in his opinion, no reason for his resigning;
and as his resignation had probably been sent in consequence
of the conversation between him (Wirt) and D. P. Cook, if the
President's opinion was that Edwards ought not to be removed, ,
he ought to have the option of withdrawing his resignation.
There was then a proposal that Cook should again be seen
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394 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [June,
or written to by Mr. Wirt, to warn Edwards to keep the tender
of his resignation secret, and that, if he pleased, he might with-
draw it.
To this I objected, wishing that no unsteadiness or waver-
ing might appear in the proceedings of the Executive; but I
urged that the President should come to a decision in the
event of Edwards's withdrawing his resignation, whether he
would revoke the commission or not.
The discussion continued till Calhoun declared that he came
over to my opinion, and Wirt said his mind was so divided
that he was for both sides of the question. Southard was little
less perplexed, and the President finally declined deciding till
to-morrow.
I then observed that, previous to a decision, it would be
proper to complete the reading of the papers ; and they were
read. Calhoun, Southard, and Wirt all expressed the opinion
that Edwards was a deeply-injured man, and Calhoun repeat-
edly said that all his charges against Mr. Crawford were made
good. They remarked much upon the composition of the
committee, and Calhoun said that one different individual in
the place, of Webster would have given an entirely different
aspect to the whole affair.
Shortly after dinner, and while the pafpers were reading, the
Washington Republican of the evening was brought in. The
resignation of Mr. Edwards was announced in it. The reading
of the papers was nevertheless completed, and about eight in
the evening Mr. Clarke, the Clerk of the House of Represent-
atives, came and took them away for publication.
Among the observations made by the President during the
day, he intimated that he should appoint Poinsett to go to
Mexico, and that he intended fully to ascertain the real state
of the management of the Treasury Department for the last
nine months, and said that, if necessary, he should appoint,
according to law, a person to act during Mr. Crawford's in-
tended absence, and should charge me with that trust, if I
would undertake it.
I said I had no doubt he would find, upon examination, that
the business of the Treasury Department had been transacted
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with as much accuracy and fidelity as was compatible with
Mr. Crawford's indisposition ; and if no material inconvenience
to the public service had occurred or was likely to occur, I
thought it would be best not to make the temporary appoint-
ment. The use of a fac-simile of his signature is the only fact
of questionable legality and propriety that has been mentioned ;
the fact itself was said to be established, but I suppose the fac-
simile has been kept at his own house, and used only by himself
or at his order.
There was much comment upon it by Calhoun, Southard,
and Wirt ; and a speech of Webster's during the session, ad-
verting to Mr. Crawford's inability to discharge the duties of
his office, and to the law applicable to the case, which he read,
was noticed. That debate was not reported, or was slurred
over, in the National Intelligencer; but Wirt said he had heard
Webster's remarks were supposed to have been intended to
attract the attention of the President to the actual state of the
Treasury.
The range of discussion this day was over the whole history
of Mr. Monroe's Administration, and to the deadly opposition
against it by Mr. Crawford's partisans, from the Seminole War
debates down to the ratification of the Slave-Trade Convention.
The President said he thought Mr. Crawford had not sufficiently
discountenanced this warfare, but that he had once shown him
a reply from Cobb to a letter from Crawford to him, which
indicated that Crawford had disapproved the Trio attack of
1821. I came home this evening so much exhausted by the
labor of the day that I was unable to write.
27th. N. Edwards in my pew this evening ; came home with
me ; has received a letter proving that the time of his conver-
sation with Noble could not have been when Noble states it ;
solemnly declares that the whole purport of it has been grossly
misrepresented by Noble.
Watkins was at my house. Barton and D. P. Cook went off
this morning. H. W. Conway last night challenged Barton to
fight, which Barton declined, upon the ground of his having
made charges against Conway in the affair of Rector, which
had been proved to be well founded by the removal of Rector.
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3^6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July.
Major Miller, who was Conway's second, refused at first to
carry back this answer ; but Cook, who was Barton's second,
insisted upon it, and it was carried. Miller was to have been
Cook's second if he had fought with t*orsyth, as was expected.
yi4ly 1st. Intelligencer manifesto. G. Sullivan here. Politics.
Vice-Presidency — entire uncertainty of the result. Jackson.
Calhoun. Stackelberg ; presented him to the President to take
leave. Salazar. Chasserioux going to Bogota. What will the
United States do? French recognition offered if Colombia
will change her Government and make a King ; say Bolivar.
They will not. Salazar is to write. Watkins. The paragraph
in the Intelligencer; wrote an answer.
At this point of time a few words of explanation may be
necessary to the comprehension of many passages in the fol-
lowing pages which briefly refer to events important at the
time, but now almost forgotten. The attack made by Mr. Ed-
wards upon the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Crawford, had
been intended as a blow to break him down as a candidate
for the Presidency. It had only the effect greatly to embitter
the congest. The newspapers grew more and more violent.
The National Intelligencer, in some sense used as the official
organ of the Administration, though anxious to avoid a breach
with any of its Departments, was yet cautiously paving the
way to the support of Mr. Crawford against all others. The
first manifestation was made in the paper of the 1st of July,
which was thought by the rest of the Cabinet so hostile to the
Administration that it drew forth not merely a formal reply,
but a recourse to a different press, ominous of the rise of a
rival official newspaper. This press had taken the name of
the National Journal. The Republican, heretofore referred to
in this work as the organ of the friends of Mr. Calhoun, after
two years of hard and not ineffective labor in impairing the
prospects of Mr. Crawford, had not proved equally successful
in advancing those of their own candidate, and therefore was
brought to a sudden close, having lasted about two years. The
National Journal now took its place, conducted by still other
editors, and opened to a different influence. Hence sprang up
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the controversy referred to in the respective entries of the
1st, the 3d, and the 8th and 9th of July. It is to be observed
that the papers prepared by Mr. Adams appear to have been
sanctioned by the President and other members of the Cabinet,
and hence assume a quasi-official character. These proceed-
ings were further embittered by an incident which appears to
have been wholly unexpected. In preparing for a celebration
of the 4th of July, it happened that General John P. Van Ness,
a prominent citizen of Washington, and an earnest friend of
Mr. Crawford, moved by his indignation at the attack made by
Edwards, prevailed upon the managers to refuse him admission
to the public dinner provided for the occasion. An acceptance
by the officers of the Government of an invitation under such a
condition thus necessarily implied approbation of the exclusion
of Mr. Edwards. Under these circumstances, the President
and members of the Cabinet deemed the matter of sufficient
moment to prompt a formal public notice declining to attend
the dinner. The consequence was that from being a general
festivity, as intended, the affair was narrowed down to a cele-
bration by the friends of Mr. Crawford, at which the nomina-
tion of him as a candidate for the Presidency constituted the
only marked incident.
The narrative now proceeds.
2d. At the President's, who sent for Calhoun. Read my
draft of an article in answer to that of the Intelligencer; dis-
cussed. Question whether any reference should be in it to the
President. Statement that the negotiation of the Slave-Trade
Convention was with the unanimous assent of the members of
the Administration. Draft approved as written. J. P. Van Ness's
exclusion of N. Edwards from the celebration dinner. I pro-
pose to withdraw my subscription ; Calhoun also. J. McLean
to be consulted. Joint letter to decline. Gave Watkins the
draft of the article.
A. B. Woodward. His projected meeting for to-morrow
evening. Resolutions for abolition of slavery. Advised him
to countermand the meeting, and talk with P. U. S. about the
resolutions. Note from P. U. S. with Mercer's statement.
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3^8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [July.
Roused John from bed, and sent him to Force's for the proof-
copy of the article. He brought it. I made an alteration in it,
and sent it back.
3d. Calhoun and McLean here. Draft of the joint letter
declaring that we had withdrawn our subscriptions for the
dinner. At P. U. S. ; submitted it to him, and he approved
it. Call at Wirt's office; he agrees with us. . Joint letter to T.
Carbery and Jos. Gales, Jr. Copy prepared and published in
the Washington Republican. Again at P. U. S. A. Scott with
him. Disapproves of the exclusion of N. Edwards. Not to
give notice to the Foreign Ministers that we have withdrawn
our subscriptions. Carbery' late at my house. Answer from
the Committee of Arrangements. His own excuses and apolo-
gies. Says the Committee of Arrangements, a majority, were
taken in. A member of the committee had said that several
persons had expressed objections to subscribe or be present if
N. Edwards was to be there, and proposed that private notice
should be given at the bookstores not to receive Edwards's
subscription. No vote or resolution of the committee taken
upon it, and Carbery himself inclined to object to it, but did
not. He afterwards rather advised Van Ness not to give the
direction, but he nevertheless did. It was not intended that it
should be published, but Force did announce it. The majority
of the committee were no supporters of the candidate who is
the antagonist of Mr. Edwards. I told Carbery we were per-
fectly satisfied he had intended nothing improper. Article this
morning in the National Journal.
4th. My son John this day came of age. Sent him to Mr.
Calhoun with a reply to the answer from the Committee of
Arrangements. Calhoun sent me back the reply signed by
himself and McLean.
6th. Wyer here. Accounts of the dinner at Williamson's
yesterday. About two-thirds of the subscribers withdrew their
names. At the office. Salazar spoke of the dinner yesterday,
as of small numbers and not agreeable. He is going to Phila-
delphia, and desired me to send my answer to his last note
* Mr. Carbery was the Mlyor of the city, and a member of the Q>mmitiee of
Arrangements.
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there; also a copy of my letter to R. C. Anderson upon the
Colombian privateering ordinance. N. Edwards to enquire for a
file of the Richmond Enquirer. Returned him the letter from R.
King and enclosures, that he had sent for the perusal of the Pres-
ident. Copies of answer from Committee of Arrangements, and
reply, sent for the National Journal and Washington Republican.
7th. Correspondence with the Committee of Arrangements
in the National Journal. Writing a statement of facts relating
to the debate on the Embargo. Note from P. U. S. Cabinet
meeting at noon. Only Calhoun and myself present. Salazar's
note. How to be answered. The Colombian republic to main-
tain its own independence. Hope that France and the Holy
Allies will not resort to force against it. If they should, the
power to determine our resistance is in Congress. The move-
ments of the Executive will be as heretofore expressed. I am
to draft an answer. State of Mr. Crawford's health. Attorney-
General's opinion ; use of a fac-simile lawful ; conditionally, if
the mind and sight are competent to the transaction of busi-
ness. Otherwise P. U. S. ought to make a temporary appoint-
ment. Calhoun differed from Wirt's opinion ; thought the prac-
tice was eminently dangerous. Case of Governor McKean in
Pennsylvania. Papers relating to it sent by N. Biddle to Craw-
ford. P. U. S. will refer to the Comptroller Anderson, to see
Mr. Crawford, ascertain his own opinion, and report.
8th. Washington National Intelligencen second manifesto ;
two columns against the Secretary of State. P. U. S. sent for
me. Met Calhoun there. Mrs. Monroe taken ill last night, so
that the President could not go to Loudoun, as he had intended.
Mr. Crawford sent him word by Mr. Anderson that he would
call upon him this day, but he did not. I asked if there had
not been several Treasury warrants paid without afiy signature
of the Secretary. P. U. S. did not know.
9th. J. McLean called, and read me an article prepared upon
the subject of our declining to attend the dinner. Watkins was
here, and afterwards at the office. I gave him the article in
reply to the National Intelligencer, and D. Brent's statement.
loth. At the President's, with letters from the Slave Indem-
nity Commissioners. Draft of answer to them. Mr. Crawford's
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400 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [July.
health and fac-simile. Anderson's report ; speaks strongly of
Mr. Crawford's rapid convalescence; refers the main question
to the President's own observation upon an interview promised
by Mr. Crawford on the 8th, but he did not come. Many war-
rants were paid without any signature by Mr. Crawford; but.
after payment, the fac-simile was applied to them. P. U. S. said
he would call upon Anderson for a more specific report.
1 2th. Dr. Thornton called, and said he had written some
remarks upon Governor Troup of Georgia's letter about the
Cherokee Indians, whom he was for extirpating, and he judged
Mr. Crawford was of that opinion, because Mr. S. H. Smith, his
neighbor, was so, and he thought of publishing these remarks.
I told him I had no reason to believe Mr. Crawford was of
Governor Troup's opinion on this subject, and I should advise
him not to publish any remarks of that import. Williamson's
bar-keeper came for my subscription to the dinner on the 5th,
which I paid. Received a note from P. U. S. for a Cabinet
meeting at one. Calhoun and Southard there. Letters from
General La Fayette and James Brown. Discussion about the
expenses of La Fayette's visit to this country. Best to do
nothing upon it now. Brown mentions a letter from H. Middle-
ton of j^jjj May, saying he had concluded a satisfactory Conven-
tion on the Northwest Coast question. Blessed be God, if true!
13th. Watkins here. Gave him third article in reply to the
National Intelligencer. Force, editor of the National Journal,
has purchased the establishment of the Washington Republican,
and commences a paper thrice a week ; to be made hereafter, if
possible, a daily paper.
iSth. Mr. S. L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, called upon
me, and we had a long conversation upon various topics of public
interest. He told me of the movements of his old colleague,
Mr. Dickerson, since his return to New Jersey, and he thinks
the only key to Dickerson's thoughts and actions is personal
hostility to him — the jealousy of a younger man rising and
supplanting him in political influence, power, and reputation.
17th. Fourth article in the National Intelligencer. Wrote a
short and closing answer to it.
20th. I calle.d on Mr. Somerville, at Williamson's Hotel, and
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returned to him his manuscript address. He left the city at
noon for Fredericksburg. I had a long conversation with him.
A man by the name of Gregory came to the office — apparently
a German Jew, but last from England ; insane, and imploring
protection from a universal conspiracy to poison him. Mr. Hay
came, as he had promised, and seemed much excited at what
he thinks a system of delusion with regard to the state of Mr.
Crawford's health. He appeared to suppose it important that
its real condition ought to be made known by newspaper
discussion. But I observed that all the authentic and respon-
sible information showed that he was almost well ; that mere
fact against authenticated proof would easily be discredited;
that time must soon show whether Mr. Crawford is or is not
getting well, and that little would be effected by argument in
anticipation of events. We had much more conversation upon
this and other subjects.
2 1st. At the office, Captain Jackson, commander of a late
revenue cutter, came to complain that he had been discharged
from the service without any complaint against him, merely be-
cause his vessel has been condemned as no longer sea-worthy.
His lieutenant is in the same situation. He said Jones, the
Chief Clerk of the Treasury, had done it of his own authority,
and Dickins told him Mr. Crawford knew nothing of it. I
called upon the Comptroller, Anderson, who said he would
speak of it to the Secretary of the Treasury. He thought
the officers could not be discharged merely because the vessel
was condemned, and that another cutter ought to be stationed
upon the coast of Louisiana. He told me that Mr. Crawford
was very much better since he removed into the country, and
that he believed he never would have recovered at the house
where he had resided in the city.
22d. Mr. A. B. Woodward came in, repeating his application
for the appointment to Guatemala, and conversing largely upon
other subjects. Some papers of his, entitled " Considerations
upon the Presidency, addressed to the individual citizen," are
being published in the National Journal. They are speculative
and historical, referring to past events, but bearing so much
upon those of the present time that I told him he was treading
VOL. VI. — 26
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402 MEMOIRS OF JOH^ QUINCY ADAMS, [July.
close upon warm ashes. Mr. G. Hay called to visit Mr. Everett,
but he was out, and Mr. Hay conversed with me. He told me
that Gales, of the Intelligencer, had been to the President, who
had, with great severity, reproached him for the treacherous
manner in which the newspaper has for a long time been
managed. The President had not mentioned this to me, but
Gales told Mr. Everett yesterday that he had been to the Presi-
dent, and was sorry to find him entertaining precisely the same
impressions that I did. .
29th. Mr. Addington called to make enquiries concerning
the late extraordinary transactions in Portugal. I read him
the accounts of them given in General Dearborn's dispatches.
Commodore Rodgers called upon me with E. Wyer. I went
out after dinner with Mr. Everett, and paid a visit to Mr.
Crawford at his residence in the country. We found him con-
valescent, in cheerful spirits, and intending to go next week
upon his excursion to Pennsylvania and New York. His
articulation is still affected by a salivation not entirely passed
ofT, but he appears otherwise quite well.
31st. At eleven o'clock I went with Mr. Everett to the
President's, who half an hour afterwards received the deputa-
tions of Indians who have recently arrived in the city. They
are of six tribes, among the most savage of the desert, part
of them all but naked. They were Saukeys or Sturgeons,
Musqukeys or Foxes, Piankeshaws or Miamies, Pah-a-geser
loways, the people seem in a fog, Menomone or Wild Oats,
Chippeways, and Nacatas or Siouxs, the amiable people.
They speak five different languages, and the discourse between
the President and them was rendered by as many interpreters.
For the Sauks and Foxes there was a double interpretation
— first into French, and thence into English. The President
made a very short speech of welcome to them, which was
answered with like brevity by a principal chief of each tribe.
There were among them three squaws, and one female child five
or six years old. In the speeches of the chiefs there was much
gravity and painful earnestness. They were mostly painted
red; but one chief had his whole face colored with yellow
ochre. Mrs. Southard and Mrs. Wirt, with their daughters,
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and old Mrs. Calhoun, were there as spectators, and many
others — C. B. King, the painter, among the rest.
Messrs. Calhoun, Southard, and Wirt were present as mem-
bers of the Administration, and attended, after the Indians were
dismissed, a Cabinet meeting, at which the Convention signed
by Mr. Middleton on the 17th of April, and others of his dis-
patches, were read. The President was well satisfied with the
Convention, and expressed his full approbation of the conduct
of Mr. Middleton in the negotiation of it. But it is to be
passed upon by the Senate at their next session, and will have
to encounter the same spirit which was at work against the
Slave-Trade Convention. The confidential dispatch respecting
the affairs of South America and of Greece was likewise read.
Few remarks upon it were made. The President said he would
read over the other papers, and confer with me concerning
them next week.
Day. I rise between five and six, and, when the tide serves,
swim between one and two hours in the Potomac. Breakfast
about nine, then write or meditate or receive visitors till one or
two. Attend at my office till six, then home to dine. Take
an evening walk of half an hour, and from ten to eleven retire
to bed. There are eight or ten newspapers of extensive circu-
lation published in various parts of the Union acting in close
concert with each other and pouring forth continual streams of
slander upon my character and reputation, public and private.
No falsehood is too broad, and no insinuation too base, for
them, and a great portion of their calumnies are of a nature
that no person could show or even assert their falsehood but
myself. As the Presidential election approaches, numerous
correspondents from every quarter write me letters professing
good will, or enquiring of my opinions, from men most of
them entirely unknown to me. I answer very few, and perhaps
ought to answer none of them. Particular friends write to me
by way of consultation and of anxiety ; and they can seldom
be answered with entire freedom. The result is a great waste
of time and of mental occupation upon subjects personal to
myself, to the necessary neglect of public business and detri-
ment to the public service. I have no reason to hope to be
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404 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August,
released from this state of trial for many months to come. To
pass through it with a pure heart and a firm spirit is my duty
and my prayer.
August 2d. I was at the President's; found with him Captain
James Barron, who is to be employed as commander of the
navy-yard at Philadelphia. I spoke to the President of instruc-
tions to be given to Mr. Brown, at Paris; with reference to a
resolution of H. R. U. S. at the close of the last session of Con-
gress. He directed a Cabinet meeting for to-morrow at one
o'clock. The instructions to the Florida Land Title Commis-
sioners occasion also much embarrassment — Mr. Worthington
having declined to accept his appointment. Instructions are
likewise to be sent to Mr. Middleton. The President is highly
gratified with the Convention. But how it will be seen in the
Senate is another affair. The President desired me to send
immediately to the Secretary of the Navy a letter just received
from T. Randall, at the Havanna, containing an account of recent
piracies. I sent it accordingly. Mr. Southard goes upon his
Northern tour to-morrow.
3d. Mr. G. Hay called at my house to tell me that the French
Minister had arrived, and that, as the President was desirous of
returning as soon as possible to Loudoun, it would suit his con-
venience if I could present the Minister to him to-morrow. Mr.
Brent sent an intimation of this to the Count de Menou, who,
in consequence, immediately sent a notification of the Minister's
arrival, with a request that I would receive him, for which I
appointed this day at half-past three. There was a Cabinet
meeting at the President's at one. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Wirt
present. I had not been able to send a notification to Mr.
Crawford, as the President had desired. The principal question
was of instructions to be given to Mr. Brown for negotiation
with France upon the claims of our citizens, and whether he
should be authorized to connect with it a negotiation for in-
demnity to France on account of the eighth article of the
Louisiana Convention. After much discussion, the President
inclined to decide that we could not admit the blending of the
two subjects, but deferred the decision till to-morrow, and
requested me to notify Mr. Crawford of the meeting, and
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request his attendance, if entirely convenient. Mr. R. Forrest
afterwards offered to go out and take himself the notification
to Mr. Crawford, which I requested him to do. Other subjects
were also postponed till to-morrow. At half-past three, the
Baron Durand de Mareuil came with the Count de Menou, and
delivered to me the copy of his credential letter. He said he had
also the answer to the notice of Mr. Gallatin's recall ; and the
notice of Baron Hyde de Neuville's recall. I informed him that
the President would receive him at half-past one to-morrow.
4th. At one o'clock I presented to the President the Baron
Durand de Mareuil, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni-
potentiary from France. He delivered to the President his
own letter of credence ; the letter of notification of the recall
of the Baron Hyde de Neuville, and the letter of recredence
for Mr. Gallatin. The Baron made a very short address to the
President, assuring him of the friendly dispositions of the King
of France towards the United States, and of his own earnest
desire to promote the good understanding between the two
nations, which the President answered by assurances of recip-
rocal dispositions. He spoke also very kindly to the Count de
Menou, who said he expected shortly to return to France, but
hoped to pay his respects again to the President before his
departure. The Count was much affected by the President's
obliging expressions, and warmly manifested his gratitude.
The Cabinet meeting was not held. Mr. Crawford came in
to the city, and was about an hour of the morning at the Pres-
ident's, and then returned home. He told the President he
had postponed his departure for some days.
I received this morning from Antonio Jose Canaz, Envoy
Extraordinary from the United Provinces of the Centre of
America, a notification of his arrival, and, as the President was
extremely anxious to return to-morrow to Loudoun, he desired
me, if possible, to get through the presentation of Mr. Canaz
this day. Returning to the office of the Department, I sent
and requested him to call there immediately. It was so long
before his lodgings were found, that when he came it was past
four o'clock. He was accompanied by his Secretary of Lega-
tion, Mr. Valero. Neither of them speaks English, and Mr.
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4o6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August,
Valero only very little French. They showed me their com-
missions, of which I asked them to furnish me copies. I went
with them immediately to the President, and presented them.
Mr. Canaz delivered his credential letter, but made no speech.
The President assured him of the friendly feeling of the United
States towards his country.
After an early dinner, I attended at the President's, where
the deputations of Indians had their second conference. They
were now all dressed in the clothing furnished them here.
Short speeches were made again by them to the President, and
by him to them in return. Medals were distributed to all the
chiefs. Several of them earnestly pressed their wishes to be
dismissed and to return home. Mrs. Adams and John were
there ; also Mr. Wirt's family ; old Mrs. Calhoun and two of
his children; the French Minister and Consul, and their fami-
lies, and some others. The President gave the medals, sus-
pending them over the necks of the chiefs. Presents were also
made to the squaws and children. One of the Piankeshaws,
who acted as interpreter from one dialect to another, was very
ill with a high fever. Between eight and nine it was over. I
asked the President's directions upon various points, but he
was not prepared to give them. On returning home, I found
Laborie at my house. He comes out as Secretary of Legation
to the Baron de Mareuil.
5th. Swam an hour in the Potomac alone; but the morning
was cool, and the remonstrances of my friends against the
continuance of this practice will induce me to abandon it, per-
haps altogether. Mr. Lemuel Sawyer, formerly a member of
Congress, called upon me with a subscription-book for the
publication of a tragedy in five acts, entitled the " Wreck of
Honor," by him. He has already published a comedy in four
acts, called " Blackbeard." At the office, A. B. Nones came, and
took his commission as Consul at Maracaibo. The Count de
Menou called to enquire if the list to be furnished of the Baron
de Mareuil's Legation should include those who were of the
French Legation before. I thought it should. The Count told
me how much he had been affected by the kind expressions
yesterday of the President to him.
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1 824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 407
Mr. Anderson, the Comptroller of the Treasury, was also this
morning at my office, to enquire of the construction of the Act
of Congress of February, 1823, concerning the commercial in-
tercourse with the British Colonies in America. His question
was, whether a British vessel from a Colony in North America
could proceed to a Colony in the West Indies, and vice versa.
I told him they could. He had also a question whether, in
Massachusetts, a man could be held to bail on mesne process
without an oath of the plaintiff to the debt. I said he could,
unless the law had been lately changed. I had also much
conversation with him upon the polities of former times, par-
ticularly of the Embargo of 1807. He was a member of the
committee of the Senate which reported that bill.
7th. Mr. T. Findlay, of Baltimore, called again, and had a
long conversation with me on the prospects of the election.
He has conversed freely with Mr. Calhoun, and endeavored to
impress upon him the necessity of union between his friends
and those of General Jackson and mine. He says Calhoun
cares nothing about the Vice-Presidency, but thinks it not yet
time for Jackson to withdraw.
8th. Heard Mr. Little in the morning, from Luke xxi. 19:
" In your patience possess ye your souls." A text to which I
have often, and with the deepest earnestness of mind, had re-
course. The sermon addressed itself to me not less forcibly
than the text. Self-control in trying seasons is the most neces-
sary of all properties, and never was it more needed for me in
the whole course of my life — perhaps never near so much. In
the afternoon I heard a discourse from Mr. , at Mr.
Baker's, from Acts xxiv. 16: "And herein do I exercise my-
self, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God,
and toward men." This also was a lesson of instruction, and I
cannot have too many of them ; but it was not so pungent as
that of the morning.
9th. I received a letter from James Tallmadge, at Albany,
where the New York Legislature, after a session of five days,
were to adjourn on the 6th, leaving parties as much unde-
cided as ever, and a victory claimed on both sides. The first
number of the Daily National Journal came out this day —
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4o8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [August,
very unexpectedly to me. Mr. Crawford left the city this
morning.
1 2th. Walk with G. Hay, who afterwards passed an hour with
me. He told me that the President had lately received an
anonymous letter, in a disguised hand, and affecting false spell-
ing, but undoubtedly from an able hand, advising him to dis-
miss all the members of his Administration except Mr. Craw-
ford: Calhoun, because he is presumptuous and extravagant;
Southard, to go and keep school in New Jersey ; Wirt, because
he is treacherous, and no real friend to Mr. Monroe; and me,
because I despise his abilities. Hay said he did not consider Mr.
Crawford a member of the Administration at all, and he persists
in thinking his state of health desperate. This is prejudice.
i6th. Mr. McLean, the Postmaster-General, called at my
house this morning. He returnfed yesterday from his tour to
Saratoga. He says that De Witt Clinton thinks the majority
of the New York Legislature will choose a ticket of thirty-
six electors who will vote for Mr. Crawford ; that a number
sufficient to make the majority will be bought with money,
and that the same men might be bought with money for any
purpose, and by any purchaser — even a foreign power. He
said this distinctly to McLean himself Now, De Witt Clinton
ought well to know the people of New York and their Legis-
lature. He has himself applied for his own advancement to
the Presidency so much money as to have ruined his own
fortunes. He has, therefore, no scruple against the use of
money for that purpose, and has perhaps in former times
bought some of the very individuals of whom he now speaks
thus. I hope better things, and believe that corruption has
not yet quite arrived at that pitch. That the Legislature of
New York will j^//the suffrage of the State I think more than
probable, and must find satisfaction in the certainty that it will
not be sold to me.
17th. At the office, the Baron de Tuyl, the Russian Minister,
came to ask a question of etiquette: whether at the dinner at
my house, to which he is invited, to-morrow, the Minister of
Guatemala, as a new-comer, as well as the Baron de Mareuil,
the French Minister, would take precedence of him. I said, No ;
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that the French Minister having first arrived, the dinner was
given to him and to his lady ; that the Minister from Guatemala,
having afterwards arrived, would be of the party, but would
not take precedence of any Minister of the same rank ; that the
only place at which there was any etiquette of foreign Ministers
as to place was the President's ; none at my house. And as
the Minister from Guatemala speaks no French, and is not ac-
quainted with Madame Durant St. Andre, I should request him
(Baron Tuyl) to lead her to the dinner-table. He said in that
case he would with pleasure attend, but otherwise should have
desired to write me a note excusing himself, on the ground of a
slight indisposition, from attending. All this was with many
professions that neither he nor his Court cared anything about
etiquette. General La Fayette arrived below New York Sun-
day morning — landed and spent the day at the Vice-President's,
at Staten Island.
20th. Mr. Daniel Carroll, of Duddington, and Commodore
Tingey, came as a sub-committee from the corporation to
enquire what arrangements the President had made, or pro-
posed to make, for the reception of General La Fayette — so
that those of the corporation might harmonize with them. I
told them that I had not heard from the President since the
General's arrival ; that he had told me before, that he intended
to invite him to reside while here at the Presidential House ;
and I advised them to go and confer with the President himself
at Oakhill.
23d. Baron Tuyl, the Russian Minister, had written this
morning to request an interview, and came at two o'clock, the
hour appointed. He had received dispatches from his Govern-
ment by the Count de Medem, whom he asked to introduce to
me; for which I appointed two o'clock to-morrow. The Baron
has received powers and instructions to treat concerning the
indemnities to be allowed to the owners of the Pearl ; but still
with a protestation against the principle upon which they are
demanded. The Baron expressed a strong apprehension of a
possible opposition to the Convention in the Senate, which, he
said, after the sacrifices made by the Emperor in the way of
conciliation, would be extremely painful.
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4IO MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [August,
I told him I did not expect there would be opposition ; but,
if there should, its object will be here, and not in Russia.
He said he was aware of that ; but that it would, nevertheless,
not fail to be felt. He read me an extract from a dispatch upon
the subject of the confidential communications between him
and me of last winter. It expressed the satisfaction of the
Emperor at the conciliatory disposition manifested by them on
our part, notwithstanding our explicit avowal of opposite prin-
ciples. The Baron read to me also a dispatch from Count Nes-
selrode of 20th May — ist June, explanatory of a certificate of
good conduct which he had furnished L. Harris at his solici-
tation, and a copy of which was enclosed with the dispatch.
The two papers were not of congenial purport ; the dispatch
speaking of Harris in terms very different from those of the
certificate. I asked the Baron if he had any objection to fur-
nishing me copies of both. He said the whole communication
was confidential ; that he would furnish me a copy of the cer-
tificate, but could not of the dispatch. But he allowed me to
read it a second time, and, observing that I read it with much
attention, he asked if I had any particular reason for it. I told
him I had given depositions to be used in the lawsuit to which
those papers referred ; that my testimony had not been favor-
able to Mr. Harris, and that I had no doubt he had obtained this
certificate with a view to its operating to discredit my testimony.
The certificate is altogether in general terms, and states that
Mr. Harris, in his conduct as a public Agent of the United
States, had given entire satisfaction to the Russian Govern-
ment ; that he had been in part the founder of the relations
between the two countries, and that he had obtained special
marks of confidence from the predecessor of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Count Nesselrode. The dispatch states that
in the lawsuit between Harris and Lewis, which had acquired
a too deplorable celebrity, both parties had applied to the
Russian Government for copies of official documents; that
Mr. Harris, having arrived there, had been treated with the
attentions due to a person who had previously held a public
office under a foreign nation and discharged it to the satisfac-
tion of the Emperor ; but that with regard to his lawsuit and
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his possible prevarications in reference to his own countrymen
the Russian Government could consider him only as a private
individual, and felt its duty to be to observe an entire impar-
tiality between the parties; that when Mr. Harris had applied
for copies of public documents he had been informed they
could be furnished only upon the application of the Minister
of the United States, and would, upon the same application, be
furnished to the adverse party ; that accordingly Mr. Middleton
had applied for copies of documents for Mr. Lewis, which had
been furnished ; that Mr. Harris had been irritated at this, and,
whether from vanity or from personal animosity, had not applied
for his documents through Mr. Middleton ; though if he had,
they would have been furnished him. But he had solicited the
certificate of good conduct, which, as relating to mere general
considerations, it had been thought proper to give him ; and
the Baron was apprised of all these circumstances, that he
might use them as occasion should require, if Mr. Harris
should seek to give a particular coloring to the refusal to furnish
copies of documents to him in any other manner than as they
were furnished to Mr. Lewis. I told Baron Tuyl that Harris
did not want the documents for which he applied, but wanted
to avail himself of the refusal of them.
24th. At the office. Baron Tuyl came and introduced the
Count de Medem to me, who also brought letters of warm
recommendation from Mr. Poletica and from W. Lewis. The
Baron told me Count Medem was also earnestly recommended
to him from the Department of Foreign Affairs ; that he was
going on a tour to New York and Boston, and into Canada ;
and he asked letters for him — which I promised. The Baron
brought me a copy of the certificate given by Count Nessel-
rode to L. Harris, and spoke again about the ratification of
the Northwest Coast Convention, concerning which he is
extremely anxious. He asked me if I thought it would be of
use if he should write to Mr. Gallatin concerning it I told
him I thought not. If Mr. Gallatin should come here before
the meeting of Congress, he might freely converse with him
concerning it. But I did not apprehend any opposition to the
Convention from Mr. Gallatin. Nor if he should write to him
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412 AfEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [August,
would Mr. Gallatin interfere in its favor. He would answer
him politely, and resort to commonplace remarks of his now
being only a private citizen, and leave the Convention just as
he found it. He said he would not write to him.
25th. Swam across the Potomac with John; Antoine crossing
at the same time in a boat close at hand, to take us in had we
met any insuperable difficulty. I was exactly an hour and a
half from shore to shore. John was ten minutes less. We
passed through thick grass in several places, but the tide was
a spring tide at its full, and the water so high that we got
through. We returned in the boat. Antoine swam about half
the way back, but got so entangled in the weeds that he was
obliged to get into the boat ; but the water was not over his
head. I landed, returning at the point at the mouth of the
Tiber. We had been from home nearly four hours. The dis-
tance across the Potomac is upwards of a mile.
27th. Swam with Antoine to and from the bridge — the same
as I had done yesterday; but this morning I was an hour and
twenty-five minutes in going through the distance I had yes-
terday traversed in fifty minutes. This difference was owing to
the different state of the tide, which was running this morning
so much more rapidly than yesterday. Last summer, when
the tides were so strong, I desisted from the attempt to reach
the bridge, which I now find I can accomplish; but it takes
as much time as crossing the river at full tide, and is more
fatiguing.
Mr. McLean, the Postmaster-General, called at my house.
I gave him a copy of my speech on the Louisiana Appropria-
tion bill, 3d November, 1803. Dr. Watkins showed me a letter
from a Mr. Brawner, one of the candidates as an elector of
President and Vice-President in Maryland, which gives a par-
ticular account of the exertions making by the partisans, both
of Mr. Crawford and of General Jackson, to slander me and run
down my reputation. There is a common chime to the same
1 the presses devoted to Crawford, and in several
ickson. About fifteen newspapers in various parts
*d States, several of them daily papers, others
* or three times a week, are, and for the ensuing
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four or five months at least will be, filled column upon column
with everything that truth, misrepresentation, or falsehood can
supply to defame and disgrace me. In passing through this
ordeal, may the Spirit which has hitherto sustained me still be
my staff and guide !
28th. Mr. McLean, the Postmaster-General, came, and intro-
duced to me Judge McKee, of Kentucky, who brought me a
letter of introduction from George Robertson. They have just
gone through their elections, and the relief party have prevailed
over the Court party ; or, in other words, the debtors over the
creditors. Among the rest, John Pope has lost his election to
the State Legislature, and Rowan is to come into the Senate in
the place of Talbot.
29th. I passed an hour of the morning with the President,
conversing upon various subjects of public concernment — our
relations with the European powers: Russia; Great Britain;
France; those with South America, and upon the question
whether appointments shall now be made to Buenos Ayres
and Mexico, and an Agent to Guatemala, or whether they
shall all be postponed. I told him the substance of my con-
versations lately with Baron Tuyl, at the purport of which he
expressed much satisfaction. He approved particularly the
observations I had made upon the Baron's enquiry whether it
would be advisable for him to write to Mr. Gallatin concern-
ing the Northwest Coast Convention. He said that he did not
suppose that Mr. Gallatin would make any improper use of
such a letter, but he would perhaps endeavor to turn it to
his account ; he would communicate it to his political friends
and supporters, and then it would be under their control, and
not his.
30th. Dr. Thornton had left with me yesterday an election-
eering paper which he had written, and proposed to send and
have distributed as handbills, to the number of fifteen hun-
dred, in the State of New York. It was an argument against
the election of Mr. Crawford as President, founded upon the
violent papers of the Georgia delegation about the Cherokee
Indians at the last session of Congress, and of the Governor
of Georgia, Troup, then and since. Thornton's argument is.
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414 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [August.
from the character of these papers, to the danger of choosing
a citizen of Georgia for President.
I told the Doctor that I wished he would not publish that
paper, for it was within my knowledge that Mr. Crawford had
disapproved of those papers of the Georgia delegation, and
had endeavored to prevail upon them to take them back. I
could, therefore, not approve of the publication of any paper
which would represent Mr. Crawford as responsible for them.
The Doctor took away his paper, but brought it again this
morning with an additional paragraph, stating that Mr. Craw-
ford, as the writer had since preparing the paper been informed,
had disapproved of the Georgia delegation remonstrances;
and then proceeding with an argument that Mr. Crawford's
disapprobation had not been sincere. I told the Doctor that
this was worse than it had been before, and very strongly
remonstrated against his making the publication at all.
Mr. G. B. English came again to urge the necessity of ap-
pointing him to go out immediately to Gibraltar to negotiate
with the Capitan Pasha to save the American property at
Smyrna from seizure and confiscation by the Turks in conse-
quence of the subscriptions from the United States in aid of
the Greeks. I referred him to the President.
At one o'clock I attended at the President's, and met Mr.
Wirt there. The discussion was upon the propriety of making
an immediate appointment of Ministers to Mexico and Buenos
Ayres, and of an Agent to Guatemala; and concerning the ap-
pointment of a District Judge and District Attorney in Mary-
land. The President himself strongly inclined, and has certainly
been urged, to make the appointments to South America ; but
I thought it would be best to wait until October, and perhaps
even till the meeting of Congress, before making any of them.
I said the effort made at the last session of Congress to reduce
the missions to South America would certainly be renewed at
the next, and probably with success. If Ministers should be
now appointed, it was highly probable the appropriations to
continue them would be denied, and then it would assume
the appearance of a reduction achieved as a victory over the
Administration.
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|824.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 415
The President said he had been ardently pressed to make
the appointment to Mexico, on the argument that a Minister
from the United States would ensure the failure of Yturbide's
new imperial expedition, which would otherwise succeed. In
this I had no faith, and the President determined finally to
postpone all the appointments to those missions.
31st. Attended again at the President's at one o'clock, with
Mr. Wirt. The President, after further consideration, finally
concluded again to postpone the appointments for the missions
to South America. Mr. Wirt gave much at large his opinion
as to the appointments of District Judge and Attorney in
Maryland. Purviance and Reverdy Johnson are his favorites,
and, as he says, excellent lawyers. But Purviance is a fed-
eralist, and Johnson a very young man. The President again
said that the object of his Administration had been to draw
the parties of this country together and unite them all as one
people ; but that to effect this it was essential that he should
proceed cautiously, and avoiding to shock the prejudices of
his own party. He still left it undecided whom he should
appoint.
Day, The distribution of my time differs not from that of
the last month. The bitterness and violence of Presidential
electioneering increase as the time advances. The uncertainty
of the event continues as great as ever. It seems as if every
liar and calumniator in the country was at work day and night
to destroy my character. It does not surprise me, because I
have seen the same species of ribaldry year after year heaped
upon my father, and for a long time upon Washington. But
it is impossible to be wholly insensible to this process while
it is in operation. It distracts my attention from public busi-
ness, and consumes precious time. I have finally concluded
to take a month of holiday, to visit my father and dismiss
care.
Boston, September 6th. — At about eleven we took a hack,
and came out to my father's house at Quincy. The infirmities
of age have much increased upon my father since I was here
last year. His sight is so dim that he can neither write nor
read. He cannot walk without aid, and his hearing is partially
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41 6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [September,
affected. His memory yet remains strong, his judgment sound,
and his interest in conversation considerable.
8th. QuiNCY. — The remainder of this day I passed in con-
versation with my father. He bears his condition with forti-
tude, but is sensible to all its helplessness. His mind is still
vigorous, but cannot dwell long upon any one subject. Articles
of news and of political speculation in the newspapers are read
to him, on which he remarks with sound discernment He
receives some letters, and dictates answers to them. In gen-
eral' the most remarkable circumstance of his present state is
the total prostration of his physical powers, leaving his mental
faculties scarcely impaired at all.
9th. I took a ride of about three miles with my father in his
small carriage. Called at Mr. Marston's, and rode to the foot
of Penn's Hill, by the houses where my father and myself were
born. That of his nativity has within the last year, at his
request, been painted white. General H. A. S. Dearborn came
out from Boston for a committee of several persons who at a
private meeting resolved to give me a great public dinner at
Faneuil Hall. I desired General Dearborn to return my thanks
to the meeting for the intended honor, and assure them of the
grateful sense I entertain of their kindness, but to say that in
the present agitation of the public mind, in the divisions of sen-
timent prevailing, and in the total uncertainty of their issue,
this measure would probably increase the excitement, which
should rather be allayed. It might have the aspect of a polit-
ical expedient to make an ostentatious and equivocal exhibition
of popularity, and perhaps even be represented as gotten up at
my own desire for that purpose. That I begged, therefore, to
decline this testimonial of their friendship, with the ^surance
that my sense of obligation to those by whom it was offered
was as warm as if it had been accepted.
I went in to Boston with Mrs. Adams. Stopped on the way
at Governor Eustis's, and had half an hour's conversation with
him. He spoke of the Massachusetts claim upon the Govern-
ment of the United States with great solicitude ; and, thinking
it just, I told him I should give it all the aid in my power. He
spoke also of the electoral ticket in this State. A ticket was
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nominated by the Republican members of the Legislature last
June understood to be favorable to me. An opposition ticket
has since been gotten up, at the head of which they have placed
the names of Eustis and of the late Governor, Brooks. As
this opposition has not been countenanced by either of them,
they have been urged by their friends to decline publicly, and
Eustis told me that they would. He .said the only question
was as to the time, and he believed that would be soon. His
own opinion, he said, had been made up and declared two years
ago; and it was well known not only here, but at New York
and Albany. He would see Brooks, and they would decline
about the same time, though perhaps not by a joint act.
15th. Quincy spoke to me confidentially respecting the state
and prospects of my father's health. He wrote under my
father's dictation his will, and is appointed joint executor of it
with myself I have not seen it. I have hope that my per-
sonal attentions may yet contribute to the comfort of his de-
clining days, and with gratitude to Providence observe the still
vigorous energies of his mind.
19th. I had a long conversation with Sprague on the subject
of the Vice-Presidency. With regard to General Jackson, as
the prospect now is that he will stand the highest on the list
of candidates for the Presidency, it appears useless to sustain
him for the second office. But as the Pennsylvania nomina-
tion, Jackson and Calhoun, is absolute proscription of New
England, I advised Sprague that my friends here should be-
think themselves twice before they lend their aid to any part
of this inveterate exclusion of themselves.
20th. I walked in the burying-yard, and viewed the granite
tombstones erected over the graves of my ancestors by my
father. Henry Adams, the first of the family, who came from
England; Joseph Adams, Sr., and Abigail Baxter, his wife;
Joseph Adams, Jr., and Hannah Bass, his second wife; John
Adams, Sr., my fathers father, and Susannah Boylston, his
wife. Four generations, of whom very little more is known
than is recorded upon these stones. There are three succeed-
ing generations of us now living. Pass another century, and
we shall all bt mouldering in the same dust, or resolved into
VOL. VI.— 27
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41 8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [October,
the same elements. Who then of our posterity shall visit this
yard? And what shall he read engraved upon the stones?
This is known only to the Creator of all. The record may
be longer. May it be of as blameless lives !
22d. I came with Governor Eustis through Boston to Salem,
and we stopped at the La Fayette, formerly called the Essex
Coffee-House. On the road we had conversation upon various
subjects, and the Governor told me many occurrences of his
own history. He spoke with great bitterness of H. G. Otis, the
rival candidate against himself last year for the office of Gov-
ernor; and who, although he declined standing as a candidate
this year, wrote a series of papers, just as the election was
coming on, against Eustis, and in defence of the Hartford
Convention. We had also some discussioi) upon the powers
of the Congress of the United States to institute and establish
a system of internal improvement by roads and canals. The
Governor thinks Congress have not this power, and that the
exercise of it will be pernicious, and perhaps fatal to the
Union — upon all which points my opinion is the reverse of
his; but we discussed the question with great coolness and
good humor. •
24th. This day we took our departure to return to Wash-
ington. I took leave of my father with a heavy and foreboding
heart. Told him I should see him again next year.
30th. BoRDENTOWN. Day. — ^The month has been consumed
in a visit to my father and my home. The time surrendered
to company, with a respite from all industry. I have sought,
with some success, to escape from cares, and have written
scarcely anything. I am returning with anxious and with no
flattering anticipations to Washington, to finish my term of
service, and to meet the fate to which I am destined by the
Disposer, who
*• Leads ihe willing, drags the backward on."
October 1st. At two o'clock we embarked in the steamboat,
and at seven in the evening arrived at Philadelphia. On board
the boat I met my old school-mate, Jesse Deane. He was the
person who had yesterday accosted me from the Wharf at New
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York, with Mr. Mumford, and whom I did not then recognize.
He was now accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. Alden, and her
husband. The last time I had seen Mr. Deane was in August,
1785, at Hartford, which is also now his residence. We had a
long conversation in the boat, and told over to each other the
tales of our childhood, in the Boston frigate, and at the schools
of Le Coeur and Pcchigni.
2d. Philadelphia. — Called this morning before breakfast
again upon General La Fayette. He had not risen ; but a few
minutes after sent me word he was rising, and wished to see
me. I went immediately, and found him in his bed-chamber,
dressing. In his breakfast-chamber I met also his son, George
Washington, and his Secretary, Mr. Le Vasseur. After break-
fast, I went to Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll's, and examined the
depositions of Bruxner, Plessig and Cayley, of St. Petersburg,
taken under a commission issued from the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania at the instance of Leavitt Harris, for the trial of
his cause against W. D. Lewis. Harris has been between one
and two years collecting these and many other depositions in
Russia. John D. Lewis had written me several letters, that
in the depositions of Bruxner, Plessig and Cayley there were
abusive statements against me ; and W. D. Lewis, who has also
been collecting testimony in Russia, and who arrived in Boston
the day after I last left there, wrote me a letter, which I received
at New York, requesting me to see Mr. IngersoU as I should
pass through Philadelphia, and ascertain whether it would not
be necessary to take another deposition from me. Mr. IngersoU
sent first to Mr. Binney, and then to Charles J. IngersoU, who
are of counsel for Harris, for the Russian depositions. They
were sent to him, and I read over those of Bruxner, Plessig
and Cayley. In my first and third depositions in this cause I
had been under the necessity of mentioning transactions, in
which these persons had been concerned with Harris, of a more
than suspicious character. Harris took copies of my depositions
with him to St. Petersburg, and these worthies saw what 1 had
told of them. Neither of them denies any material fact stated
by me, but Bruxner makes several base and malicious insinua-
tions against me, boasts of my confidence in his house, and of
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420 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [October.
having transacted my private and pecuniary business at St.
Petersburg ; of their having bought and sold Russian stocks
for me, and of my having given Mr. Campbell a letter of recom-
mendation to the house when he went to Russia. The letter
itself is annexed to Briixner's deposition. Plessig and Cayley
indulge themselves in angry invective against me, but shake
none of the facts stated by me. Plessig, whom I had even
avoided to name, admits the fact which deeply implicated him ;
and Cayley declares there was no collusion between him and
Harris in the case of the Monticello, Captain Sail. After read-
ing over the depositions, I explained to Mr. Ingersoll the facts
to which Bnixner^s malicious insinuations and misrepresenta-
tions applied, and told him that if it was desired I would give
an additional explanatory deposition, or, if possible, I would
come and give my testimony in open Court. This, Ingersoll
said, would be exceedingly desirable. He said the trial would
probably come on early in December. I said it would scarcely
be possible that I should be able to leave Washington at that
time ; but if the trial should be postponed till next spring I
should then, in all probability, have leisure to come.
At Hopkinson's, and on my return to Miss Shinn*s, I re-
ceived notices of several messages from Commodore Barron,
commanding at the navy-yard, inviting my attendance there
to meet General La Fayette ; but it was too late for me to go.
The General was received there with an address and a colla-
tion. I dined at Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll's with Dr. Chapman.
After dinner I intended to have visited John Sergeant; but
Ingersoll sent to his house to enquire if he was at home. He
was not. I went with Ingersoll and Chapman to the theatre,
which is fitting up for the great ball to be given to General La
Fayette next Monday. Met there G. M. Dallas; Strickland,
the architect ; Wood, the manager of the theatre ; and some
others. They have inscriptions and portraits and mottoes and
painted scenery, and columns with the names of distinguished
military officers of the Revolutionary War. I observed to Dal-
las that they had no naval names, and, as Philadelphians, ought
not to have forgotten that of Biddle. I next went to Mr. Hop-
kinson's again, and there met Mrs. Chapman, with whom I
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walked to General Cadwalader*s. An evening party, at which
General La Fayette, with his son and Mr. Le Vasseur, attended.
The two Misses Wright, English maiden ladies' who have fol-
lowed General La Fayette to this country, were also there.
Mrs. Morris, widow of the late Robert Morris, Bishop White,
the two daughters of the late Dr. Bollman, and many others,
were of the company. I told General La Fayette that I should
call on him to-morrow morning and introduce to him my old
school-mate, Jesse Deane.
3d. I called this morning on General La Fayette with Mr.
Deane, whom I introduced to him as my school-mate at Passy
in 1778 and 1779; ^^^ Deane reminded him of his visit to us
at the school at that time. I intended to have taken the boat
for New Castle this day at noon, but Mr. Adams, of Baltimore,
called on me this morning, having come from Baltimore last
night. He left with me the Baltimore Patriot of the evening,
in which was an article stating that the corporation of the City,
having learnt that the Secretaries of State and of the Navy
were on their way returning to Washington, had resolved to
invite them to witness the reception of General La Fayette
there next Thursday; and Mr. Adams earnestly urged me to
accept this invitation. As I must pass through Baltimore,
I thought the refusal of it would have the appearance of a
slight, and concluded to accept it and remain here till Wed-
nesday.
Mr. C. J. IngersoU came and invited me to his pew at Christ
Church, where General La Fayette was to attend public wor-
ship, and also to dine with him. But Mr. R. Peters, Jr., soon
after brought me an invitation from his father to dine with him
in company with General La Fayette, which, with Mr. Inger-
soll's permission, I accepted. At Christ Church, the service
was performed by Bishop White. His text was Psalm Ixxiii.
25, 26: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none
upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart
faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion
forever." It was a communion-day sermon ; but the Bishop
made no adaptation of any part of the service to the occasion
of General La Fayette's presence. The house was crowded.
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422 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [October,
I wrote to the President, and enclosed the letter to Mr. D.
Brent, to be forwarded by him to Loudoun. Went with R.
Peters, Jr., and Dr. Jones, of Georgia, out to Judge Peters's,
about four miles from the city, and dined. Dr. Jones was
during part of a session, in 1807, a member of the Senate
while I was there. He was appointed by the Executive of the
State; but on the meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Crawford
was chosen in his place. Dr. Jones sat in the Senate from the
26th of October to the 9th of December, 1807, since which I
had not seen him, and did not now recollect his person. At
Judge Peters's we met a Quaker named Kersey, said to be an
eloquent preacher; but he went away before dinner. Judge
Peters showed us in his garden a Spanish chestnut-tree, the
nut of which was planted by President Washington just before
his retirement from the Presidency. General I^ Fayette, his
son. and Mr. Le Vasseur were of the party, and Mr. S. Breck,
Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, and some others. Miss Peters, the
Judge's daughter, who keeps his house, was the only lady
present. It was a cheering time. Judge Peters is upwards of
fourscore years of age, in sound health, good spirits, and of
conversation sparkling with wit and humor.
4th. I had invitations to attend in company with General
La Fayette at his visitation of various public institutions of
this city. Met him about ten this morning at that of the Deaf
and Dumb. The teacher is a young man by the name of Wells,
whom I had met last Friday in the steamboat. The perform-
ances of the pupils were very creditable, and their proficiency
in knowledge and facility of comprehension was surprising.
Thence we went to the Pennsylvania Hospital for Sick and
Insane Persons. It is kept in excellent order. Among the
lunatics was a man from Boston, by the name of Scott, who
wished to see me, and sent me word that he had been President
of the Phoenix Fire Club when I was a member of the society.
I accordingly saw and spoke with him. He enquired after my
father and family, and exhibited to me no token of insanity.
He followed us round several of the apartments, and made
some sensible remarks upon the picture by West, of Christ
healing the sick. In passing through the apartments of the
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sick, we saw one woman in bed, insensible, and apparently in
her last moments. She died in the course of the day.
Our next visit was to the Penitentiary, the most remarkable
incident of which was that they had the convicts drawn up in
double line in the yard, through which we passed. Such a
study of physiognomy I never before beheld. The varieties of
impression which vice and guilty lives can produce upon the
human countenance were never so exhibited to me. It was a
thing to shudder at, and of which I had no conception. The
contrast of desperation, malice, hatred, revenge, impudence,
treachery, and scorn visible upon this collection of criminals
was the more remarkable from the cheerfulness, kind feeling,
and joy visible in the countenances of the people crowding
about the General wherever he goes. We proceeded to the
meeting of the Washington Benevolent Society, where General
La Fayette was admitted as an honorary member, and ad-
dressed by their President, Mr. Milner. I had been cautioned
by R. Peters, Jr., against attending at this ceremony, the society
being, or having heretofore been, a political society of the most
violent character, under the visor of benevolence. I could
not, however, avoid accompanying the General ; and there was
nothing of an objectionable character in the performances.
We next went to the Schuylkill Water- Works, and viewed the
dam, the wheels, and the pipes for the ascent of the water,
with the reservoir at the top of the hill. The General then
visited the two Misses Bollman at Mr. Nickson's, their re-
lation ; then went to the new Penitentiary now building, and
then to the Orphans* and Widows' Asylum, also a new build-
ing. The orphans sang a hymn while we were there. The
General was everywhere cordially welcomed and enthusias-
tically greeted.
5th. Mr. John Vaughan called upon me, and I went with him
to the Academy of the Fine Arts. Mr. Hopkinson, the Presi-
dent, delivered diplomas to General La Fayette and his son as
honorary members. I met there Mrs. Meredith, and part of
her family ; thence went with Mr. Vaughan to the Athenaeum,
and thence to the State- House. General La Fayette was re-
ceived in the Hall of Independence, so called from being that
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424 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [October,
where the Congress of the Confederation used to meet, and
whence the Declaration of Independence issued. Its interior
has, however, since been entirely altered. From the Hall,
General La Fayette went upon the steps of the south front
door of the State-House, where the children of the schools
passed in review before him, two thousand two hundred and
fifty girls and one thousand eight hundred boys — chiefly from
seven to fourteen years of age. There were several addresses —
numerous emblematic and mottoed banners — one song — and a
speech in French, by General Cadwalader's son, a lad of about
fourteen. Some of the teachers came up the steps and shook
hands with the General, and many of the children, especially of
the girls, succeeded, though against the previously-announced
regulation, and in spite of much opposition, in obtaining the
same favor. This procession took up nearly three hours, during
which the General declined being seated, or covered even with
an umbrella. He went thence to the University, but I did not
accompany him. I paid a visit to Mr. Charles J. IngersoU, and
at four attended at the Washington Hall, at a dinner given by
the Frenchmen and descendants from Frenchmen residing at
Philadelphia to General La Fayette. The company consisted
of nearly one hundred persons, several of whom were guests
invited. Governor Schultze and Judge Peters were of the
party. The toasts were characteristic of the company, and
Mr. Plantou recited an ode in honor of the General. At eight
in the evening he retired, and immediately left the city, pro-
ceeding on his tour, to the State of Delaware.
6th. At half-past eight we reached Frenchtown. The steam-
boat United States, Captain Trippe, was there in waiting for
General La Fayette, with three committees from Baltimore
to receive him — one from the City Corporation, one from the
Militia Brigade, and one from the Society of the Cincinnati.
There was another steamboat, in which the travellers from
Philadelphia were to proceed as usual. Before alighting from
the stage, I received an invitation from the committees to go
with them and in company with General La Fayette. Feeling
myself scarcely at liberty to decline this invitation, I recom-
mended Mrs. Adams and the girls to the attention of Captain
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Finch and Mr. B. O. Tayloe, and the boat, in which they were,
immediately left the wharf. We waited there till one in the
morning, when General La Fayette arrived with an escort from
Delaware. Louis McLane made him a speech on the wharf at
parting, and as soon as he came on board the boat he was
addressed successively by Mr. Morris, as Chairman of the
Baltimore Corporation Committee, by General Harper, for
the Militia, and by General S. Smith, for the Cincinnati : to all
which he returned short and appropriate answers. The boat
then left the wharf: we had a light supper, and retired for the
night. The ladies* cabin was appropriated for the General and
his family; and, by his invitation, one of the berths in it was
occupied by me. Among the persons who came from Balti-
more to meet the General was Captain Dubois Martin, the
officer who hired the vessel in which he came from France in
the year 1777. He has been many years residing in Baltimore,
is now eighty-two years of age, and within the last three years
has married a young wife, and has a child. He is in circum-
stances not very prosperous, and told me the whole story of
his engaging the Marquis to come over here, and of his hiring
the vessel for him. The General himself also told it to me, not
very differently.
7th. The night was fine, and we rose this morning in sight
of North Point. We had barely time to breakfast when four
steamboats crowded with passengers came down from the city
to meet and escort the General. There was great shouting
and cheering at the meeting, and we proceeded up the river
with the four boats, two in front and two in rear of ours, and
at equal distances. We landed in barges at Fort McHenry.
The barge in which the General went, and in which I accompa-
nied him, was rowed by six captains of merchant-vessels. At
the fort, the General was received by Colonel Hindman, the
commandant, in handsome military style. Colonel Jones, Gen-
eral Macomb, and. Major Vandeventer were present. The tent
used by General Washington during the Revolutionary War,
borrowed fron) Mr. Custis, of Arlington, was spread there, and
beneath it the General was met by Governor Stevens, of
Maryland, who addressed him in a respectable speech, which
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426 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [November,
he answered with his customary felicity. Mr. Charles Carroll
of CarroUton, one of the three surviving signers of the Decla-
ration of Independence, Colonel John E. Howard, one of the
highly distinguished officers of the Revolutionary War, and
several other veterans of the same class, were there — all deeply
affected by the scene, which was purely pathetic. After par-
taking of a collation in the tent, the procession for the Gen-
eral's entry into the city was formed ; but, instead of joining
it, I accepted a seat offered me by Mr. William Patterson in
his private carriage, and he took me immediately to Barney's
Tavern. There I found that a chamber had been reserved for
Mr. Southard, the Secretary of the Navy, and me, but that he
had gone on this morning to Washington, in company with
Mrs. Adams, who was compelled to proceed, not having been
able to find a room to lodge in at Baltimore. Mr. Barney, the
keeper of the Fountain Inn, is a member of the Common
Council, and went with me to the Council-chamber, at the
Exchange. There I met Mr. Swan, of Alexandria, Colonel
Grahame, of Frederick, Mr. McCulloch, the Collector of
Baltimore, and many others, and witnessed the reception of
General La Fayette by the Corporation of the city. The
Mayor, about to go out of office, Edward Johnson, made him
an address, which he briefly answered.
Washington, Ncnfember loth. — Cabinet meeting. Present
W. H. Crawford, J. C. Calhoun, Samuel L. Southard, and J. Q.
Adams. Subject of consideration, the Slave-Trade Convention
with G. B. I read the dispatches. No. 1 1 and 1 2 of the separate
series, from R. Rush, and my drafts of a public and of a secret
and confidential dispatch to him ; also a note from Mr. Ad-
dington, the British Charge d'Affaires, announcing his receipt
of a full power to conclude a new Convention, with the single
addition of the words "of America" to that sanctioned by the
Senate. The opinion was unanimous against acceding to the
proposal for concluding a new Convention — at least for the
present. Both my drafts were unanimously approved ; the
President objecting slightly to the word ** unseemliness," and
suggesting the use of impropriety in its stead. I altered the
draft accordingly, having used the term unseemliness only
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with reference to its having been used by Mr. Canning himself,
though afterwards withdrawn.
Mr. Crawford told twice over the story of President Wash-
ington's-having at an early period of his Administration gone
to the Senate with a project of a treaty to be negotiated, and
been present at their deliberations upon it. They debated it
and proposed alterations, so that when Washington left the
Senate-chamber he said he would be damned if he ever went
there again. And ever since that time treaties have been
negotiated by the Executive before submitting them to the
consideration of the Senate.
The President said he had come into the Senate about eigh-
teen months after the first organization of the present Govern-
ment, and then heard that something like this had occurred.
Crawford then repeated the story, varying the words, so as
to say that Washington sivore he would never go to the Senate
again.
Mr. Crawford and Mr. Calhoun both expressed themselves
strongly upon the absurdity of Canning's two official notes, the
second of which retains the argument, while it retracts as erro-
neous the allegation of facts upon which it was maintained in
the first.
Calhoun noticed the tone of both the original and substituted
note of Canning as offensive. In the original note there were
three gross blunders. One of them remains in the substitute,
besides the absurdity of an argument retained, with the facts
upon which it was founded withdrawn. Rush says Canning
had been ill with a fever, and Southard observed he had not
recovered from it when he wrote the notes.
Mr. Crawford now for the first time spoke against the conces-
sion of the right of search, and said the very proposal of it was
an insult, because it implied an admission that we were not
competent or not trustworthy to execute our own laws. This
reasoning is not sound in its application to the Slave-Trade
Convention. The object is to capture pirates ; and, without
any distrust of our own Executive officers, we may give our
aid and accept that of another for the more effectual execution
of a law common to both. But the remarkable fact in this
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428 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
case is the change of Mr. Crawford*s opinion. When I stood
almost alone in resisting the concession of the right of search,
even before we had required as an indispensable preliminary
that Britain should make the slave-trade piracy, Mr. Crawford,
with two successive committees of the House of Representa-
tives, was bearing down my resistance, and his partisans were
using it as evidence that I was a friend to the slave trade.
And now that his supporters in the Senate have taken ground
against yielding the right of search, even for pirates, he joins
in the cry with them, and discovers that the very proposal is
an insult. To the argument in Addington's note urging that
Great Britain, upon the faith of our ratifying the Convention,
had, at our requisition, passed an Act declaring the slave-trade
piracy, he said they might, if they pleased, repeal their Act.
This is true, but it is not of itself a sufficient answer to their
argument. I must have stronger ground.
Mr. Crawford enquired of the proceedings upon the Con-
vention \xi the Senate, and said he had not seen them. It was
observed that all the amendments in the Senate were moved
by Mr. Josiah S. Johnston, a member from Louisiana. Mr.
Calhoun particularly noticed in Mr. Canning's notes a menace
that the British Government would henceforth negotiate with
us nowhere but at Washington. I said that I supposed he
would limit the expression of the sentiment to this particular
negotiation ; otherwise it would give us the material advantage
of always treating at home. Calhoun said that might be the
result, but the threat would not be the less offensive.
This was the first Cabinet meeting at which Mr. Crawford
had attended since last April. His articulation is yet much
affected, and his eyesight impaired. But his understanding re-
mains, except with some deficiencies of memory and ignorance
of very notorious facts, probably because he was many months
unable to read with his own eyes. Mr. Rush's advice to send
a frigate to the Columbia River was mentioned by the Presi-
dent. Mr. Crawford thought a military post there would be
proper and sufficient. He was not for sending a colony or
establishing a Territory there. He said he had last winter
advised Dr. Floyd to change his plan from a Territory to a
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military post, and the Doctor had told him he would. The
President spoke of the information from Mr. Sturgis, that an
establishment of a post sixty or seventy miles further north
would be preferable to the mouth of Columbia River.
I gave the President my draft of minutes for the parts of his
message relating to foreign affairs. He asked the other mem-
bers of the Administration for theirs. I left with the President
papers relating to the affair of Ducoudray Holstein, of whom
he had directed a prosecution, and I questioned whether it was
not barred by limitation. Mr. Southard thought the limita-
tion of two years applied, ^nd looked to the fifth volume of
the Laws, article Crimes and Punishments, but the limitation
section is there omitted. Mr. Southard spoke of several naval
Courts-martial, and particularly of the one to be ordered for
the trial of Captain Stewart. He was uncertain whether in the
charges should be included that of violating the blockade de-
clared by the Peruvian Government, inasmuch as we utterly
deny the legality of that blockade in all its parts. I thought it
desirable that the Court itself should explicitly decide its ille-
gality; but, as the Judge Advocate must maintain its illegality,
there seems an inconsistency in his introducing the violation of
it among the charges. Southard says it was remarkable that
Barton, a man named by Prevost as a witness that arms were
landed from the Canton at Arica, under the protection of the
Franklin*s guns, had remained in the Pacific, and had purchased
the Peruviano, a small vessel which Stewart had built, claimed
and sold as his own property.
On leaving with the President my minutes for a message, I
observed that, as this would be his last session message, perhaps
he would think some general remarks upon the policy pursued
towards foreign nations during the whole period of his Admin-
istration would be expedient. He concurred with the idea. I
told him I had said little uf)on the subject of the Greeks; but
he must determine whether he would communicate to Con-
gress the proposal of their Agents at London, through Mr.
Rush, that the United States should take them under their
protection. The President desired me to send him his last
year's annual message, his message on internal improvement,
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430 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
and the report of the Committee of Foreign Relations of the
House of Representatives at the last session of Congress on
the Porto Rico piracies. I sent them accordingly, and left with
him also the dispatch last received from H. Nelson, which in-
cludes a note in a very spirited tone to the Spanish Government,
13th. Saturday. — Cabinet meeting. Present W. H. Crawford,
J. C. Calhoun, Samuel L. Southard, and J. Q. Adams. The
question was, whether the District Attorney at New York
should be instructed to commence a prosecution against L.
Villaume Ducoudray Holstein, for fitting out, in August, 1822.
an expedition against the Spanish island of Porto Rico. The
opinion in favor of the prosecution was unanimous with the
exception of mine. I was against it : first, because I considered
it barred by the statute of limitations; secondly, because the
parties have already been prosecuted for the same thing in the
island of Cura^oa, where they suffered eighteen months' im-
prisonment, and were condemned to thirty years of the same
punishment. This sentence was reversed by the King of the
Netherlands, who substituted for it banishment from the island.
And, thirdly, because it was a mere undertaking never carried
into execution.
It was answered, that whether the statute of limitations
applied or not was for the CouH to determine. The President
thought it would not; Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Southard, that it
would. Mr. Crawford said that the prosecution at Curaqoa
was not for an offence against our law, and that we had nothing
to do with it, and that, although the expedition never landed
at Porto Rico, the fitting out and preparing of it in our ports
was a consummation of the offence against our law. Ducou-
dray himself wrote last April to the President soliciting his
protection; and Baptis Irvine later, through Mr. Clay. There
was a question whether these papers should be transmitted to
trict Attorney as part of the evidence. Mr. Crawford
they should be, and it was so determined. In his
) the President, Ducoudray says he was one of the
who attempted to liberate La F'ayette from the castle
utz ; and he has recently published a biographical
of La Fayette.
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Mr. Calhoun suggested that perhaps it would be well to
postpone the prosecution till General La Fayette should return,
and that he should be enquired of as to the facts of Ducou-
dray's being concerned in the attempt to liberate him.
I objected that I had no doubt the fact was so ; that La
Fayette would of course be kindly disposed to him, and would
advise, if at all, against the prosecution. But if the prosecution
was proper, it ought not to be omitted on account of any service
heretofore rendered by Ducoudray to La Fayette.
Mr. Crawford concurred in this opinion; and it was deter-
mined that the District Attorney at New York should be im-
mediately directed to commence the prosecution, and that all
the papers containing the evidence should be sent to him,
including those furnished by Ducoudray and Baptis Irvine
themselves.
The President asked the other members of the Adminis-
tration to furnish him with their minutes for the message. I
had already given him mine. Mr. Calhoun said his would be
shorter than they were last year, and a mere sequel to them.
Mr. Southard said his would be shorter still.
I asked Mr. Crawford how the revenue had turned out. He
said, very good — between seventeen and eighteen millions of
impost, and about one million* two hundred thousand dollars
for lands. Four millions of seven per cents, have been pur-
chased, and there are seven millions in the Treasury.
30th. Tuesday. — Cabinet meeting. Present W. H. Crawford,
J. C. Calhoun, Samuel L. Southard, and J. Q. Adams. Draft
of the message read by the President. His method of writing
it is upon loose sheets of paper like Sibylline leaves — a separate
sheet for each subject distinctly noticed in it. He receives
minutes for it from each of the heads of Departments, but
that from the Treasury has not yet been furnished him. Mr.
Crawford intimated that it was because Mr. Calhoun had sent
for his estimates back, to make some change in them, and that
they had not been returned; but Mr. Calhoun said the altera-
tion had been trifling, and that they had been returned the
same day that he had sent for them. The message is very
long. Southard said it had taken the President three-quarters
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432 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [November,
of an hour to read it. He has omitted the paragraph that
he had prepared concerning the reconciliation of parties. I
had told him that, as it was written, I thought it would not
be received as conciliatory. Its purport was that there had
been a party averse to our republican institutions, but that by
experience they had become reconciled to them. I told him
that the federal party, to which he alluded, did not admit this,
but, on the contrary, complained of it as injustice that it had
been imputed to them ; that they had already complained of it
as noticed in his published correspondence with General Jack-
son. It was his opinion ; that he had avowed; but if his ob-
ject was conciliation, I thought it would better be promoted by
omitting the paragraph he had written than by inserting it.
He referred to it this day merely to say that he should leave
it out. After reading it once through, he read it again by
paragraphs. Mrs. Crawford in the mean time called in the
carriage for her husband, and he went away. He said he did
not see that any alteration was necessary in the draft as first
read. On the second reading, however, there was much
retrenchment and some alteration. Calhoun and Southard
said it was a good, business-like message, and spoke in com-
mendation of its style. As the last session message that the
President is to deliver, it contains more matter of a general
character than any of the preceding, and a summary review of
the policy of the Administration throughout its career. There
was no discussion upon any of the topics introduced into the
message, and no diversity of opinion with regard to any of the
recommendations in it. There never has been a period of more
tranquillity at home and abroad since our existence as a nation
than that which now prevails. But Mr. Calhoun objected to
one expression in the message, which declared the agricultural,
manufacturing, and commercial interests of the country*^ to be
in a flourishing condition. He said all the agriculture of the
South was in a state of great depression — never greater. He
wished the gratulatory tone of the message to be qualified.
The President noticed one passage as favoring by implication
the manufacturing interest, and said he was decidedly for the
policy of favoring the manufactures. The paragraph respect-
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ing Greece and South 'America was less energetic and vivid
than that of the last year, but in the same spirit. That about
General La Fayette distinctly recommended that some pro-
vision should be made for him by Congress.
December 2d. Thursday, — Cabinet meeting. Present J. Q.
Adams, W. H. Crawford, J. C. Calhoun, and Samuel L. South-
ard. The President read drafts of .two additional paragraphs
for the message — one relating to claims of our citizens upon
tlie European Governments of France, the Netherlands, Sweden,
Denmark, and Naples, and the other concerning the piracies,
still so annoying to our commerce, from the island of Cuba.
With regard to the claims, he said, as there had been a reso-
lution of the House of Representatives at their last session
concerning them, he thought it would be proper to notice
them more particularly than he had done in his first draft. It
was desirable especially to show to France that, however she
might now refuse to negotiate upon the claims, we should not
abandon them. If we once admitted her demand of connecting
the negotiation for the claims with one upon her pretensions
under the ninth article of the Louisiana Treaty, we concede
the principle that one is a set-ofif for the other. The Cuba
piracies had in some respects changed their character. They
were now committed in boats from the shores, which no large
vessel could pursue, and the pirates had accomplices on shore
in the cities, to such an extent that Governor Vives, although
well disposed to suppress them, was overawed by their strength.
Captain Randall, our Agent, has just returned from the Havanna,
and urged the absolute necessity of some further measure for
the protection of our commerce. The President said he had
read to him the paragraph prepared, and now offered for con-
sideration, and he had doubted only whether it was strong
enough.
Mr. Crawford approved of the two new paragraphs. No
objection was made to them by any other person present ; but
I observed if there was any necessity for such additions it
might deserve consideration whether they should not be rather
more pointed; that, under the general terms of the message
as first drafted. Congress would take up the subjects noticed
VOL. VI. — 28
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434 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December.
in it according to their own views of them, and without special
bias from the Executive ; but if they were to be emphatically
marked in the message, it might be expected that some specific
measure should be recommended. I referred to the report of
the Committee of Foreign Relations of the House of Repre-
sentatives at their last session, relating to the piracies and the
Porto Rico privateers, which declared that their only motive
for forbearing to recommend reprisals and blockade was, to
give time for the Executive to call upon the Spanish Govern-
ment for reparation and remedy ; and to the strong note of
Mr. Nelson to the Spanish Government, founded upon that
report. And, at Mr. Crawford's request, I read the concluding
paragraph of the committee's report.
This led to some discussion; and I remarked that Commo-
dore Porter was already authorized by his instructions to land^
in cases of necessity, in fresh pursuit of the pirates. The Presi-
dent, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Soutjiard all contested this fact
upon recollection ; as I persisted in mine, Mr. Southard went
to the Department and brought the volume of instructions,
upon reference to which, it was found as I had stated — the
authority to land, however, being limited to the unsettled parts
of the island.
Mr. Calhoun thought that the new paragraph for the message
should refer to the proceedings at the last session ; to Mr. Nel-
son's late remonstrance ; and proceed as in pursuance of what
has already been done.
The President did not decide whether he would now modify
the paragraph or introduce it as it is.
Mr. Southard noticed that the report of the Committee of
Foreign Relations, in glancing at reprisals and blockade, re-
ferred specially to the Porto Rico privateers, none of which
are now out ; and not to the Cuba piracies. But I replied that
the report embraced references to both ; and that although the
privateers were put down, the denial of reparation for their
spoliations was more signal on the part of Spain now than it
had been at the last session — instancing particularly the con-
demnation of the .James Lawrence at the Court of Appeal in
Cuba. This was the strongest case of depredation that had
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occurred — ^the one upon which Captain Randall had been first
sent out. Yet, flagrant as it was, the vessel and cargo, which
had been cleared in the original Court, have both been con-
demned at the Court of Appeal. There is yet an appeal to the
King of Spain and the Council of the Indies. And there it is
that measures of decision now recommended by the President
and adopted by Congress would operate. Mr. Crawford told
the President that he would send him the Treasury minutes
for the message to-morrow. In answer to a question from Mr.
Calhoun, he said the revenue from impost would amount to
nineteen millions — from lands, to less than one. He said he
had not received the copy of the Convention with Russia,
which was sent to him yesterday.
3d. R. M. Johnson here. Presidential speculations; Clay
or Crawford in the House ; resentments against the caucus ;
thinks the dismission of Crawford from the Treasury will be
made a test of voting with many members; Crawford's health;
Scott, of Missouri's, remark, that he was more infirm than he
had expected to find him. Preparing papers for Congress.
6th. Monday, — Baron Tuyl, the Russian Minister, wrote me
a note requesting an immediate interview, in consequence of
instructions received yesterday from his Court. He came, and,
after intimating that he was under some embarrassment in
executing his instructions, said that the Russian-American
Company, upon learning the purport of the Northwest Coast
Convention concluded last June by Mr. Middleton, were ex-
tremely dissatisfied (a jetee de hauts cris), and, by means of
their influence, had prevailed upon his Government to send
him these instructions upon two points. One was, that he
should deliver, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the
Convention, an explanatory note, purporting that the Russian
Government did not understand that the Convention would
give liberty to the citizens of the United States to trade on the
coast of Siberia and the Aleutian Islands. The other was, to
propose a modification of the Convention, by which our vessels
should be prohibited from trading on the Northwest coast
north of latitude 57°. With regard to the former of these
points, he left with me a minute in writing.
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436 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [December,
I told him that we should be disposed to do everything to
accommodate the views of his Government that was in our
power, but that a modification of the Convention could be
made no otherwise than by a new Convention, and that the
construction of the Convention'as concluded belonged to other
Departments of the Government, for which the Executive had
no authority to stipulate ; that if on the exchange of the ratifi-
cations he should deliver to me a note of the purport of that
which he now informally gave me, I should give him an an-
swer of that import, namely, that the construction of treaties
depending here upon the judiciary tribunals, the Executive
Government, even if disposed to acquiesce in that of the Rus-
sian Government as announced by him, could not be binding
upon the Courts, nor upon this nation. I added that the Con-
vention would be submitted immediately to the Senate; that if
anything affecting its construction, or, still more, modifying its
meaning, were to be presented on the part of the Russian Gov-
ernment before, or at the exchange of, the ratifications, it must
be laid before the Senate, and could have no other possible
effect than of starting doubts, and perhaps hesitation, in that
body, and of favoring the views of those, if such there were,
who might wish to defeat the ratification itself of the Conven-
tion. This was an object of great solicitude to both Govern-
ments, not only for the adjustment of a difficult question which
had arisen between them, but for the promotion of that har-
mony which was so much in the policy of the two countries,
which might emphatically be termed natural friends to each
other. If, therefore, he would permit me to suggest to him
what I thought would be his best course, it would be to wait
for the exchange of the ratifications, and make it purely and
simply ; that afterwards, if the instructions of his Government
were imperative, he might present the note, to which I now
informed him what would be in substance my answer. It
necessarily could not be otherwise. ' But if his instructions left
it discretionary with him, he would do still better to inform his
Government of the state of things here, of the purport of our
conference, and of what my answer must be if he should pre-
sent the note. I believed his Court would then deem it best
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that he should not present the note at all. Their apprehen-
sions had been excited by an interest not very friendly to the
good understanding between the United States and Russia.
Our merchants would not go to trouble the Russians on the
coast of Siberia, or north of the fifty-seventh degree of latitude,
and it was wisest not to put such fancies into their heads. At
least, the Imperial Government might wait to see the operation
of the Convention before taking any further step, and I was con-
fident they would hear no complaint resulting from it. If they
should, then would be the time for adjusting the construction
or negotiating a modification of the Convention ; and whoever
might be at the head of the Administration of the United States,
he might be assured that every disposition would be cherished
to remove all causes of dissatisfaction, and to accommodate the
wishes and the just policy of the Emperor.
The Baron said that these ideas had occurred to himself;
that he had made this application in pursuance of his instruc-
tions ; but he was aware of the distribution of powers in our
Constitution, and of the incompetency of the Executive to ad-
just such questions. He would therefore wait for the exchange
of the ratifications without presenting his note, and reserve for
future consideration whether to present it shortly afterwards,
or to inform his Court of what he has done, and ask their
further instructions upon what he shall definitively do on the
subject. He therefore requested me to consider what had now
passed between us as if it had not taken place (non avenu) ; to
which I readily assented, assuring him, as I had done hereto-
fore, that the President had the highest personal confidence in
him, and in his exertions to foster the harmony between the
two countries. I reported immediately to the President the
substance of this conversation, and he concurred in the pro-
priety of the Baron's final determination.
8th. R. King here about the reception of General La Fayette
by Congress. Senate and H. R. in joint meeting. Speaker to
address him. King's objections. Asks if P. U. S. should be
invited to be present and make the address. I could not say.
He spoke of the efforts yet making to bring over the dough-faces
to the caucus. I said it was a feint. They must go back to
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438 MEMO-IRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December,
their constituents. The two Houses are to receive La Fayette
separately.
9th. Dr. Thornton here on his projected mission to Guate-
mala. Visits from Messrs. Miller, McKean, and Thompson, of
Pennsylvania, Dr. Watkins and Mr. Niles, of Baltimore, J. T.
Johnson and Metcalf, of Kentucky, General Jackson and J. H.
Eaton, Senators from Tennessee, General Call, delegate from
Florida, and Messrs. Swan and Garrison, of New Jersey. Dr.
Everett called from P. U. S. about papers relating to our inter-
course with Spain, which should have gone with the message.
Clerk of U. S. will not receive them without a special message.
At the office, General Brown ; about Calhoun. The movement
in New England concerning the Vice-Presidency. I told Brown
the facts.
lOth. Visits from members of Congress — Mangum, of N. C,
Letcher, of Kentucky, Wright and McLean, of Ohio, and Wood
and Craig, of New York. With the ladies to the Capitol, and
witnessed the public reception of General La Fayette by the
House of Representatives. Mr. Clay, the Speaker's, address,
and his answer. G. W. La Fayette's observation to me — what
a glorious day for his father! I spoke to Fuller, and corrected
a mistake I had made at our last conversation. Crowninshield
told me Russell Freeman, the messenger who brought the Mas-
sachusetts electoral votes, came without a commission, and
Gaillard, President of the Senate, has refused to receive them,
but has received another copy of them by the mail. Rode
home with the ladies. At the office. General Brown ; his dis-
satisfaction with Calhoun ; not flattered with the idea of having
obtained the Vice-Presidency for him ; intended explanations
with him. I was frank and explicit. Received the Tunisian
Treaty. At P. U. S. He spoke of Mr. Crawford's health with
concern; of his annual Treasury report with anxiety, that it
might contain views of fiscal concerns different from those of
the message ; said he had not obtained the Treasury returns
till the Friday before the message was to be delivered ; inter-
views between S. L. Gouverneur and A. Dickins. The Presi-
dent had also urged Anderson, the Comptroller, to hasten the
Treasury returns, to avert surmises as to Mr. Crawford's health.
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Gouverneur took the paragraphs of the message concerning
the Treasury Department to Dickins, who approved them, but
asked Gouverneur to take them to Mr. Crawford at his house
and read them to him. Gouverneur declined, from delicacy.
The President said that Crawford's y^«//y had been very hostile
to the Administration. He himself had disclaimed being so.
The President thought he ought openly to have separated him-
self from them. But this was now over. He spoke much of the
annual Treasury reports being made directly to Congress with-
out being previously communicated to the President. He had
spoken of this before, some years since, and of Hamilton's
expedient to communicate directly with Congress. He said
he remembered it from the time when he first came into the
Senate.
I ith. Visits from members of Congress. Of the Senate, Bell,
of New Hampshire, Ruggles, of Ohio, and Mills, of Massachu-
setts. At the office, Barbour, of Virginia. King, of New York,
and Edwards, of Connecticut. Members of H. R., Longfellow,
of Maine, Plumer, of New Hampshire, Lathrop and Allen, of
Massachusetts, Durfee, of Rhode Island, Jenkins, Hogeboom,
and Tracy, of New York, Condict, of New Jersey, Udree. Wolf,
Markley, and Forward, of Pennsylvania, Edwards and Saun-
ders, of North Carolina, Livingston, of Louisiana, Sloane and
Whittlesey, of Ohio, Wickliffe and F. Johnson, of Kentucky.
All these I received, and several others called at the office
before I went there, and others at my house while I was at
the office. I met several on my way to the office, and among
them Mr. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, with Mr. Russell Freeman,
the bearer of the electoral votes from Massachusetts. He
mentioned the refusal of the President of the Senate to receive
the votes on account of his having no written commission to
deliver them, and wished to deposit them for safe-keeping at
the Department of State. I declined receiving them, and Mr.
Lloyd told Freeman he might deposit them at the Branch Bank.
Barbour and King spoke of the Slave-Trade Convention.
Senate embarrassed what to do. King's opinions upon the
election. His good wishes and his apprehensions, all uncer-
tainty. Tracy, on the same subject, did not tell me of his letter
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440 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December,
from J. C. Spencer, representing the expediency that De Witt
Clinton should be removed from New York and made a member
of the Administration. Livingston brought me a letter, being a
claim for slaves lost, which I told him would be too late.
1 2th. Visited the members of Congress lodging at Mn
Fletcher's, then R. M. Johnson and his brother, J. T. Johnson,
from Kentucky, and lastly Mr. Clay, the Speaker, and Mr.
Letcher, who lives with him. R. M. Johnson said he was
waiting to see who should be the strongest candidate for the
Presidency, to be of his side, and that he had recommended to
J. Holmes and Van Buren to do the same. Letcher spoke to
me much of the internal politics of Kentucky; of the con-
vulsed interior of the State on the question about breaking
the Judges for pronouncing the laws impairing the obligation
of contracts unconstitutional ; of the leading men in the State
opposed to Mr. Clay, though professing to be his friends ; of
the Sentiments of his own constituents upon the Presidential
election, and their preference of a candidate next to Mr. Clay.
He said it was rumored also that the Legislature would in-
struct the members from the State how to vote ; but intimated
that he should not consider himself bound by instructions from
them. Mr. Clay came in, and spoke of the projected grant to
General La Fayette; said the President had spoken of two
hundred thousand dollars. His own minimum was one hun-
dred thousand; his maximum, a hundred and fifty thousand
and a township of land. Letcher said it would be hard for
him to vote even for one hundred thousand dollars.
13th. A. H. Everett was here with a letter from R. Walsh, Jr.,
making enquiries which it will not be easy to answer. Visits
from John Locke and Jeremiah Nelson, members from Massa-
chusetts. At the oflFice, Mr. Wirt and Mr. Swan, of Alexandria,
called. Mr. Wirt had a claim for lost slaves, which was sent
to him last week before the definitive list was sent in. But,
being absent from home, he did not receive it, and now it is
probably too late. I sent it, nevertheless, with that delivered
me by E. Livingston, and two others received since the defini-
tive list was sent to the Commissioners on the 8th, and en-
closed them all in a letter to the Commissioners. Mr. Wirt
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has been at Alexandria all last week, arguing the lottery cause
against the corporation of Washington.
Visit to the Baron de Mareuil, French Minister. He spoke
concerning two notes he has lately sent me concerning seamen
deserters and a French vessel run down by the Grampus. He
had much to say also upon the subject of etiquette, and sug-
gested that he had written to his Court to ask instructions
whether he should visit all the Senators of the United States.
He referred to the question which had occurred between Count
de Moustier and the Senators in 1789, and said he had under-
stood that since then it had been a usage for the foreign
Ministers to visit the Senators. But he doubted the propriety
of the usage, to which there was nothing analogical in any
European Court, and, without positively determining not to
comply with it, he had thought proper to ask instructions
from his Government concerning it
I told him that it had been an invariable usage since the
question first made by the Count de Moustier. and that the
usage was much the same in Russia, where foreign Ministers
were expected to visit by cards all the Court.
He seemed to think there was a distinction between the
Court and members of the Legislature. He hinted also at
some pretensions to precedency over heads of Departments
at their houses.
Wyer at the office. Told of the duel yesterday between
Bresson and Laborie, fought with small-swords, on the race-
ground. I spent most of the evening with R. King at Wil-
liamson's. Called at G. Sullivan's, but he was not at home.
General Brown was also this morning at my office; has seen
and conversed with Mr. Calhoun, not entirely to his satisfac-
tion ; thinks he has been mistaken in Calhoun's motives and
movements; urges the importance of a good understanding
between Mr. Clinton's friends and mine; union of Northern
interests ; weakness, defeats, and disappointments of the North
hitherto.
I told him I concurred generally in his opinions, and Mr.
Clinton knew it. The only person to be convinced was Mr.
Clinton himself. He was professing to be my friend and sup-
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442 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December,
porter, but his friends had been, and still were, moving in a
different direction. Brown hoped it was not so, and said he
knew Clinton despised J. C. Spencer as an unprincipled man.
14th. Visits from J. Read, of Massachusetts, and W. Plumer,
Jr., of New Hampshire, W. R. King, Senator, and G. Owen,
Representative from Alabama; and at the office, Mr. Lloyd,
of Massachusetts, General Mason, of Georgetown, Mr. Ran-
kin, of Mississippi, with a Mr. Smith, whom he introduced,
and Commodore Rodgers; also Mr. John Bailey, of Massachu-
setts, whose seat was vacated on the 1 8th of March last, and
who took his seat yesterday, re-elected. Plumer mentioned
to me a late conversation that he had with Webster, who is
panting for the mission to London, and sounding Plumer's
hopes and purposes. Webster is now gone with Ticknor on
a visit to Mr. Jefferson. General Mason applied for papers in
cases of certain claims rejected by the late Commissioner under
the Florida Treaty. I told him I had no authority to deliver
them unless by an Act of Congress requiring it.
Rodgers came to take leave. He has resigned his office
as Commissioner of the Navy, and is going to command the
squadron in the Mediterranean ; to leave the city to-morrow,
where the North Carolina line-of-battle ship is waiting for him.
She is to come up Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, or to the
mouth of the Potomac, and the President, General La Fayette,
and many members of Congress propose to visit her there.
The Commodore invited me to go, and I promised to gg if I
could spare the time.
At P. U. S., he directed that G. B. English should go with
Commodore Rodgers as Secretary and Interpreter in case of
meeting with the Capitan Pasha. I spoke to the President
of the duel between Bresson and Laborie, and suggested the
question whether some notice of censure ought not to be taken
of it by the Government ; either to demand that they should
be removed from the Legation, or at least omitted from the
invitations of the President to the Diplomatic Corps to dine
with him next week.
He said he would think of it.
I spoke also of the Baron de Mareuil's scruples of etiquette
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and precedency, and told him what had passed between the
Baron and me on the subject yesterday. Mrs. Adams had this
evening her first alternate Tuesday evening party for the season.
Attended by General La Fayette and his family, eight Senators,
sixty members of the House of Representatives, and about
one hundred and twenty others. General Brown told me that
Mr. Southard would act efficiently, as I should see within a
fortnight Crowninshield, that Scott, of Missouri, had told
him he was affronted at his recommendations for appointments
in that State being slighted, and at some answer I had written
to a letter from him. Tracy, that D. P. Cook, who has arrived
here and taken his seat, had said he should vote for Jackson ;
he having pledged himself to vote according to the electoral
vote of his State, which was two to one for Jackson, and Tracy
apprehended that both the Clay and Crawford party would go
for Jackson, and that the vote of New York itself in the House
would follow for him. He thought the issue would depend
much upon Southard and McLean, the Postmaster-General.
General La Fayette gave me to read from Appleton, our
Secretary of Legation at Madrid, a letter enclosing one from
Pisa, an aid-de-camp of Pepe, in prison at Madrid, and saved
from execution by Appleton.
The Misses Wright' were here, and the eldest told me she
had seen a friend of mine in London, who had often spoken of
me — Mr. Jeremy Bentham.
15th. General Brown was here, and gfave me to read a part
of a letter from Ambrose Spencer, late Chief Justice of New
York, who thinks he will be elected Senator from the State
of New York with little opposition. Brown spoke in strong
terms of Calhoun's duplicity to him, and repeated his wishes
that there might be a good understanding between De Witt
Clinton and me, and he intimated a desire that Mr. Clinton
might be a member of the next Administration.
I told him again that, with regard to the motives which he
« Miss Frances Wright, afterwards known as Madame d'Arusmonl, came with
her sister with some view of joining the community set up on the plan of Mr.
Owen, of Lanark. She afterwards became a voluminous writer on many of the
social questions of the time.
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444 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December,
urged, the only person to be convinced was Mr. Clinton him-
self; that as to the formation of an Administration, I had never
thought the probability of my election sufficient to warrant me
in thinking about it at all. If the case should occur, it must
be considered with reference to a system comprising all the
great public interests. I could not say how I should form my
Administration, if I should have one to form ; but Mr. Clinton
already knew my opinion of his talents and services. It was
for him to determine how far it might be for his interest to
maintain towards me the attitude of a competitor, or otherwise.
Wyer came also to the office, and told me that he had it from
good authority that Mr. Clay was mucji disposed to support
me, if he could at the same time be useful to himself; and
Wyer wished much to bring Mr. R. W. Meade and me to a
good understanding. I had not time to listen to him. Mr.
A. H. Everett went with me to the dinner at Dr. Staughton's.
General La Fayette, Mr. Clay, James Barbodr, and R. M. John-
son, Mr. Calhoun, and General Dearborn, were there. The
President declined going. I had conversation at dinner with
Mr. Clay.
1 6th. Morning visits from G. Plumer and R. Harris, of Penn-
sylvania, G. Moore, of Alabama, D. P. Cook, of Illinois, S. T.
Vinton, of Ohio, and D. White, of Kentucky, and from George
Sullivan. Cook has just come in from Illinois, and mentioned
the result of the election of Presidential electors there. He
says it leaves him at perfect liberty to vote in the House as he
should think best for the public interest. Sullivan came to
speak about the private concerns of the President, at the solici-
tation of Mrs. Hay, who represents his affairs as exceedingly
disordered and distressed. Mrs. Hay is very anxious that
persuasion should be used with the President to prevail upon
him to present his claim to Congress immediately, and before
they shall have decided upon the grant to be made to General
La Fayette.
I said that the President's own plan, as he had last winter
stated it to me, would be much better for his own interest;
and that if it should just now be pushed forward it would
occasion much animadversion unfavorable to him,, and even to
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his claim. Sullivan appeared to be convinced that my opinion
was correct. He said the President's embarrassments were
attributed by Mrs. Hay to his payment of much money for
his brother Joseph, in England — say two thousand pounds
sterling.
Cabinet meeting at the President's, on the subject of the
Cuba piracies. There are three committees in each House of
Congress occupied with the subject, and all wishing to know
what measure the Executive proposes to take. Mr. Crawford,
Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Southard were present. The meeting
was called at the request of Mr. Southard, upon consultation
with the committee of the House upon naval affairs. Arming
of merchant-vessels, issuing letters of marque and reprisal, and
authorizing our officers to land in pursuit of the pirates, were
the measures suggested for consideration. Some conversation
upon the right of merchants to arm their vessels. The former
laws relating to the subject looked into, but nothing defini-
tively determined. Commodore Porter's letter respecting his
recent landing at Porto Rico was read, and some commentaries
were made upon it The manner of attaching G. B. English
to the squadron of Commodore Rogers was mentioned — as an
interpreter — ^and I was requested to prepare instructions for
Rodgers. The President directed the allowance of an old
charge of Captain Jacob Jones for conveying J. Henry from
the United States to Bermuda.
Wyer was at the office, and repeated his story about Clay,
but could not give his author, and again announced his wish
to reconcile Mr. Meade with me.
Mr. John Randolph called at my house this morning upon
business; it was to enquire, as Chairman of the committee
appointed to report upon the provision to be made for General
La Fayette, if there was at the Department of State any evi-
dence of his having at any time been in Spain, and there, at
the request of the Government of the United States, rendered
them a service by negotiation. I told him I would have search
made at the Department, and furnish the committee with any
evidence which might be found concerning it. I spoke of it to
the President, who told me that R. Harrison, the First Auditor,
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446 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December.
knew something of the Greneral's visit to Madrid, having seen
him there at the time. Randolph said the committee had
thought it best that he should apply to me verbally.
17th. At the office. Visits from W. Kelly, Senator from
Louisiana, Letcher, member of H. R. from Kentucky, and
G. B. English. Letcher came ostensibly with a claim of an
assistant to the Marshal of Kentucky for additional compen-
sation for his service in taking the census of 1820. But his
apparent main object was to talk about the Presidential elec-
tion. The account was yesterday received of the choice of
electors in Louisiana by the Legislature, from which it is ren-
dered almost certain that three of the votes have been for Gen-
eral Jackson, probably four, and perhaps all five — but certainly
none for Mr. Clay. This leaves Mr. Crawford with forty-one,
and Mr. Clay with thirty-seven, electoral votes. Mr. Crawford,
therefore, will, and Mr. Clay will not, be one of the three per-
sons from whom the House of Representatives, voting by States,
will be called to choose a President. Mr. Letcher is an inti-
mate friend of Mr. Clay's, and lodges at the same house with
him. He expects that after the result is known, that Mr. Clay
cannot be voted for in the House, there will be meetings of
the people in the several counties instructing their members
to vote for Jackson, and perhaps that similar instructions will
be sent on by their Legislature.* These, he supposes, will be
gotten up by what they call the Relief i^diVty in the politics of
the State, and by men like Rowan, Barry, and Bibb, secondary
leaders of the State, not daring to oppose Clay openly, on ac-
count of his own popularity in the State, but seizing upon the
first opportunity afforded them indirectly to put him down.
Letcher is evidently alarmed at this, and, in the midst of strong
professions of independence, and of indifference about retaining
his seat, is plainly not prepared to act definitively in opposition
to the will of his constituents. He intimated that the Relief
party were in fact hostile to Mr. Clay; that of the Kentucky
delegation here, a large portion were warmly attached to him ;
that lately, speaking of what might ensue here, he had ex-
pressed the wish to go in harmony with his friends — which
Letcher said he interpreted as a wish that his friends would
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go in harmony with him. Colonel R. M. Johnson, Letcher
thinks, is warmly of the Relief party, and as to the Presi-
dency, determined to be at all events on the strongest side.
I observed to Letcher that Colonel R. M. had candidly told
me so himself.
Letcher wished to know what my sentiments towards Clay
were, and I told him without disguise that I harbored no hos-
tility against him ; that whatever of difference there had been
between us had arisen altogether from him, and not from me. ^
I adverted to Jonathan Russell's attack upon me, which, I said,
I believed Mr. Clay had been privy to and countenanced. But,
having completely repelled that attack, I felt no animosity
against any person concerned in it.
Letcher said Clay's friends thought he had been wrong in
his letter against me concerning that affair. It was written
in a moment of excitement. He was sure Clay felt now no
hostility to me. He had spoken respectfully of me, and was a
man of sincerity. Of the fourteen electors of Kentucky, seven
voted for Calhoun as Vice-President ; and this vote I thought,
and Letcher fully concurred in the opinion, was more hostile
to Clay than any vote for Jackson as President could be. It
held up Calhoun as a future competitor against Clay, and there-
by postponed all his prospects indefinitely. The drift of all
Letcher's discourse was much the same as Wyer had told me,
that Clay would willingly support me if he could thereby serve
himself, and the substance of his meaning was, that if Clay's
friends could know that he would have a prominent share in the
Administration, that might induce them to vote for me, even in
the face of instructions. But Letcher did not profess to have
any authority from Clay for what he said, and he made no
definite propositions. He spoke of his interview with me as
altogether confidential, and in my answers to him I spoke in
mere general terms.
Kelly's talk was chiefly about the last winter's caucus and
the hopeless prospects of Mr. Crawford.
I told G. B. English that the President had determined he
should go with Commodore Rodgers in the capacity of inter-
preter and entirely under his directions; with which he declared
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448 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [December,
himself fully satisfied. He is to receive his instructions next
week.
1 8th. Baron Tuyl came to enquire concerning an invitation
to dine with the President next Wednesday, and whether he
should have precedence over the Ministers from South Amer-
ica. I spoke of it to the President. As there is no other of
the South American Ministers now here but Mr. Salazar, from
the republic of Colombia, no question of Baron Tuyl's prece-
dence can arise. Reed came to say that he wished to come
with General McArthur' to visit me; and Tomlinson, to inform
me of Mr. and Mrs. McKean's not having received an invi-
tation to Mrs. Adams's Tuesday evenings. The evening con-
versation with J. W. Taylor was confidential, and I asked him
what were Tracy's' particular views. He said, entirely friendly.
He also told me that De Witt Clinton had told him explicitly
at the late session of the New York Legislature that he was in
favor of the election of General Jackson as President.
19th. I called at Dowson's, No. 2, and delivered to Mr. John
Randolph the copies of papers from the documents in the
Department of State relating to General La Fayette's visit in
1782 and 1783 at Madrid, and his services to the United States
there. Saw there Messrs. Macon and Saunders, of North Caro-
lina. Thence went to Queen's Hotel, and saw Mr. Jennings,
of Indiana, about the printers of the laws in that State. After
a full conversation with him, I determined upon the appoint-
ments, and told him how I should make them ; with which he
appeared to be satisfied. I visited the members of the Ten-
nessee delegation at Mrs. Claxton's, and Colonel Dwight, Mr.
and Mrs. Baylies, Colonel and Mrs. Wool, &c., at Coyle's.
There met Colonel Bomford, who walked homewards with me.
Left cards at Williamson's for Colonel Hayne and Major Ham-
ilton, of South Carolina. Returned home and received the
mail. Dined with Dr. Watkins, with Mr. Clay, Mr. Southard,
Mr. McCall, Captain Kuhn, Commodore Chauncey, and Mr.
Meade. After dinner I visited, with Mr. Southard, Messrs.
Wood, Craig, and Frost, of the New York delegation, at Mrs
« Duncan McArtbur, Representative from Oliio during this Congress.
» Albert H. Tracy, Representative from New York from 1819 to 1825.
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449
McCardle's. I then called on Mr. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, at
Mrs. Hickey's,and met there Colonel Trumbull. When I came
home, I found General Dearborn, General Wingate, and Mr.
and Mrs. Everett here. Everett' had sent me, to read, a paper
which he had written concerning the prospects of the Presi-
dential election, containing much speculation and some errors
of fact. I returned it to him, and told him I would make some
remarks upon it to-morrow morning if he would call at my
house — which he promised.
20th. The Baron de Mareuil, the French Minister, came with
a copy of his new credential letter from King Charles the
Tenth, and requesting an audience of the President to deliver
it. He said he had received an answer from his Government
upon an observation I had made him upon the superscription
and address of his first credential letter, which was, " To the
President and members of the Congress of the United States*'
— a style used under the Congress of the Confederation, but
unsuitable to our present Constitution, by which there is no
President of Congress, and no communication between the
members of Congress and foreign Powers. He said the Baron
de Damas, Minister of Foreign Affairs, had written to him that
the subject would be examined into.
I told him it was a matter of no consequence. He said he
was instructed to speak of the conduct of the Consul of the
United States at Tangier, who had received with some ostenta-
tion the fugitives from a late abortive attempt upon Tarifa. I
said I had heard nothing of this before. He asked whether it
might not be a proper occasion for him to present the persons
attached to the French Legation to the President upon the
delivery of the credential letter.
I told him it had been usual for Ministers to present their
Secretaries of Legation, but that other persons attached to for-
eign missions were usually introduced at the drawing-rooms.
I added, however, that I would mention his wish to the Presi-
dent, and take his directions concerning it. Evening at home,
writing. I met this morning Commodore Stewart, upon whom
« Alexander H. Everett, already mentioned in the earlier part of this work as
having accompanied Mr. Adams to Russia.
VOL. VI. — 29
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450 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [December.
a Court-martial is ordered ; and he is suspended from service
until the trial. The charges are very serious, and relate to his
transactions in the Pacific during his late command there.
2 1 St. I was at the President's with various dispatches, two of
which received from James Brown, our Minister at Paris. He
determined to receive the Baron de Mareuil to deliver his cre-
dential letter to-morrow. As to the proposal that he should
present all the persons attached to the mission, the question
recurred whether any notice should be taken of the late duel
between De Bresson and Laborie, the second and third Secre-
taries of the French Legation. The President sent for the
members of the Administration. Mr. Calhoun and Mr. South-
ard came. After some consideration it was determined to over-
look this transaction, and that all the members of the Legation
should be presented to the President, but that I should mention
it to the Baron de Mareuil, and state that the affair would remain
unnoticed merely out of regfard to the French Government
22d. Visit from Mr. James Barbour, Senator from Virginia,
with whom I had a confidential conversation of more than two
hours upon the prospects of the Presidential election. He
spoke at first of papers relating to the piracies, which I had sent
him as Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations of
the Senate, and for copies of which there is now a call by reso-
lution of that body. He soon, however, introduced the other
topic, and freely stated to me his own impressions, and what
he believed to be those of a majority of the Virginia delega-
tion in the House of Representatives. Their first choice had
been Mr. Crawford. The electors of the State had voted for
him, and a majority of the people of the State were favorable
to him. The representation of the State in the House would
vote at first for him, and adhere to him as long as they could
hope for success ; but, if they should find that impracticable,
their next preference would be for me. He had no doubt this
was the feeling of the people of the State ; that I was much
more popular there than General Jackson, or even than Mr.
Clay, though he was one of their own natives. He said he
thought it would be treason to the Constitution to hold out
and prevent an election by the House until the 4th of March,
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SO as to give the actual Presidency to the Vice-President He
asked if I thought my friends in the House would not, if they
must make a choice, prefer Mr. Crawford to General Jackson.
I said I believed they would not make an option, but would
adhere to me until they should obtain a majority of States, %x
that one should be made against them. He said something
about a moral majority of votes in New York for Mr. Craw-
ford ; but he did not press much this argument, nor did I think
it deserved waste of time in refuting it. He spoke of my letter
jointly with Mr. Calhoun, Mr. McLean, and Mr. Wirt, relative
to the Sth of July dinner, as having produced an impression
against me very strong in Virginia, by its appearance as if I
had joined in a combination against Mr. Crawford. I gave
him the same explanation of that event as I had already given
to A. Dickins — assuring him that I had on that occasion not
acted in hostility to Mr. Crawford, but to avoid being made to
partake in a public insult to Mr. Edwards. I said that if it was
to do over again, I thought I should do the same. I had been
placed in a difficult situation, and, if I had erred, it had been an
error of judgment, and not of intention hostile to Mr. Crawford.
He then, passing to matters of greater importance, enquired
of my sentiments concerning the tariff and internal improve-
ments, which I gave him with perfect candor. I said that the
ultimate principle of my system with reference to the great
interests of the country was conciliation, and not collision, I
was satisfied with the tariff as now established, and should, if
any change in it should be desired, incline rather to reduce
than to increase it. There was, in my opinion, no constitutional
question involved in the discussion. The revenue was abun-
dant, and the protection to manufactures adequate to their fair
claims for support ; and if the tariff should be found to bear
hard upon the agricultural and commercial interests, I should
incline to an alleviation of it in their favor. As to internal
improvements, my opinions had been published in most of the
newspapers, in extracts of letters from me, and had no doubt
been seen by him. Since the Act of Congress establishing the
Cumberland Road, there had been no constitutional question
worth disputing about involved in the discussion. It was cer-
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452 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [December.
tainly a great power to be exercised by Congress, and perhaps
liable to great abuses. So were all the other great powers of
Congress; and the control over it was in the organization of
the Government, the elective franchise, the State authorities,
aiTd the good sense and firmness of the people. Upon these
subjects we had much discourse, and he left me with the im-
pression that the interview had been entirely satisfactory to him.
It was then one o'clock, at which time the President had
intended to receive the Baron de Mareuil, but I had not been
able to give him notice of it. I called, therefore, at the Presi-
dent's, and he postponed the Baron's audience till to-morrow
at one. Dined at the President's with the Diplomatic Corps,
several members of Congress, and others. General S. Smith,
of Maryland, spoke to me with great approbation of the docu-
ments relating to the Northwest Coast Convention with Russia,
now before the Senate. He said he thought my answer to
G. Canning's last note upon the Slave-Trade Convention was
hardly high-toned enough. I told him of the additional secret
instruction to Rush. Evening with the ladies at Commodore
Tingey's. Met General La Fayette there. He had not dined
at the President's, on account of the Corps.
23d. At one o'clock I presented the Baron de Mareuil to the
President, and he delivered his credential letter from Charles
the Tenth, the new King of France. He also introduced the
Count de Ganay and Mr. Sontag to the President. He made
a short speech, of which he gave me a copy, requesting the
substance of the President's answer also in writing.
R. P. Letcher had a long conversation with me upon the
subject which he had broached the other day. The object
appeared to me to be to convince me of the importance of ob-
taining an election in the House of Representatives at the first
ballot, and that it would be bbtainable by securing the votes
of the States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri,
and Louisiana. I told him candidly that, however desirable
this might be, it would be utterly impracticable, and that I
had no expectation of receiving the vote of his own State of
Kentucky. He seemed anxious to convince me that I might
receive it, and enumerated the whole delegation, stating how
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each of them was now disposed — a majority of them being un-
committed, I consider Letcher as moving for Mr. Clay; and this
anxiety of a friend of Clay's, that I should obtain the election at
the first ballot in the House, is among the whimsical results of
political combination at this tinie — " Incedo super ignes.'*
Our company to dinner were Messrs. Clay and Calhoun;
Senators Knight and Van Buren ; members of H. R., Burleigh,
Fuller, Letcher, Livingston, McLane, Morgan, Swan, Tomlin-
son, Tracy, Tucker, of Virginia, and Udree. Mr. Babcock,
Russell Freeman, McCall, and Trumbull, Messrs. Brown and
Elliott, Senators, and Hemphill, Hooke, Owen, and Tatnall,
had been invited, but did not come. Tracy's conversation with
me was confidential. He thinks the vote of New York in the
House very doubtful ; counts upon seven for Jackson, and
fourteen, in the first instance, for Crawford.
24th. There was a Cabinet meeting, attended by Messrs.
Crawford, Calhoun, and Southard, upon Commodore Porter's
descent upon the island of Porto Rico, and Captain Creighton's
correspondence at Naples. I dined with Baron Tuyl, the Rus-
sian Minister, it being the Emperor of Russia's birthday ; and
attended a ball at Mr. Calhoun's. Plumer mentioned to me con-
versations which he has had with Webster since his return from
Virginia, and with Louis McLane, the member of the House
from Delaware. Webster's information referred to the opinions
of Mr. Jefferson upon the principal political topic of the time.
McLane's disclose the chief motives to his conduct, and his
own apprehensions in eventual contingencies. Tracy consulted
me with reference to his being supported as a candidate for the
Senate from New York, in the place of R. King. Ambrose
Spencer will in all probability be chosen.
The Cabinet meeting was remarkable. Porter's descent upon
Porto Rico was a direct hostile invasion of the island, utterly
unjustifiable. The question was, whether he should be imme-
diately recalled and tried, or merely be written to by the Secre-
tary of the Navy, with a demand of immediate explanation.
The President inclined to immediate recall ; Mr. Crawford, Mr.
Calhoun, and Mr. Southard, merely to ask explanations
I concurred with the President, with a view to discussion.
^
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^54 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [December,
And, in assigning my reasons, observing that it was one of the
most high-handed acts that I had ever heard of, Mr. Crawford,
with strong excitement, said that General Jackson's proceedings
in Florida had been ten times worse. I barely replied that I did
not think it a proper occasion for discussing the proceedings of
General Jackson in Florida.
It was' at last concluded that Mr. Southard should prepare
a letter to Porter, upon which the President would determine
what to do. There were several exceptionable things in the
conduct of Creighton, and a formal complaint against him by
the Neapolitan Government. There was a strong disposition
to recall him, the propriety of which, however, I questioned.
This also was left undecided.
The dinner at Baron Tuyl's was, as usual on this occasion,
diplomatic and formal. Mr. Gaillard, President of the Senate,
and Mr. Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, were
there. At Mr. Calhoun's, Mr. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, spoke
to me of the Northwest Coast Convention with Russia as if
he intended to oppose it in the Senate.
25th. I this day received a letter from Mr. James Lloyd, a
Senator from Massachusetts, respecting the Northwest Coast
Convention, against which he urges objections, and requests
answers at my convenience.
26th. I called upon Mr. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, and had
some conversation with him upon the Northwest Coast Con-
vention, his objections to which I could not entirely remove.
He thought its effect would be to deprive us of the fur trade
with the Indians north of latitude 51°, and throw it all into the
hands of the British ; and that by inference from the article
which authorizes trade for ten years to the citizens and sub-
jects of each party within the boundary assigned to the other,
the right of exclusion after the ten years must be admitted.
I did not think this a necessary consequence. And I ob-
served that in all our negotiations upon this subject our
interest was to gain time ; for in the natural course of events
we must outgrow all the obstacles which European ppwers are
so desirous of opposing to us. I mentioned to him the un-
successful result of Mr. Rush's late negotiation in England, and
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said I should send Mr. Rush's voluminous report of it to the
Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations of the Senate,
from whom he could have the perusal of it. I said I thought
the establishment of the military post on the Northwest coast,
recommended by the President in his message, and for which
a bill has passed the House and is now before the Senate, an
important and necessary measure. He said he thought so
too, and should vote for the bill. We were interrupted by
visitors, and parted with intention of resuming the conversation
hereafter.
28th. Call at the President's. He told me he had ordered
the recall of Commodore Porter, and read to me the message
prepared to send to the House of Representatives, in answer
to a call for information respecting Porter's descent upon
Porto Rico.
29th. Morning visitors, Messrs. Letcher, Rankin, Tomlinson,
with a Mr. Skinner, from Connecticut, Plumer, A. H. Everett,
General S. Smith, and Judge Thompson, of the Supreme Court
Letcher spoke with the utmost confidence of the vote of Ken-
tucky in the House of Representatives, though he expected
instructions from the Legislature of the State to vote for
Jackson.
Plumer had conversed with L. McLane, who told him he had
no objection to his informing me of what he had said to him
before. But he strongly disclaimed all purpose of bargaining.
General Smith showed me a paragraph of a letter from Chris-
topher Hughes, at Stockholm, about the claims on Sweden and
Denmark, upon which the President had desired him to confer
with me.
The Baron de Mareuil wished to know at what time on New
Year's day to go to the President's, to escape the crowd. I told
him about noon.
Baron Tuyl brought a paper containing the purport of my
remarks at our former conference upon the Slave-Trade Con-
vention. It was erroneous in one particular, which I pointed
out to him. He left the paper with me. We had much further
conversation upon the Convention, and I told him of the objec-
tions which might be made to the Convention in the Senate ;
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456 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
upon which he appeared to be vehemently affected, and inti-
mated that he did not know what might be the consequence of
the Convention being sent back unratified. Evening at home,
unwell with a severe rheumatism and hoarse cold, so that I
cannot record the details of this important conference with
Baron Tuyl.
31st. At one o'clock I presented to the President Mr. Obre-
gon, the Mexican Minister, who delivered the letter from the
President of the Mexican republic, announcing the establish-
ment of the Constitution, and the election of him, Guadalupe
Victoria, as President, and Nicholas Bravo as Vice-President
Mr. Montoya, the Secretary of the Legation, was with the
Minister. Mr. Obregon delivered the letter without making
any address, and the President only said it was an event the
communication of which he received with great satisfaction.
The audience lasted not more than five minutes. The Presi-
dent, to determine upon attending at the dinner to be given
by the members of Congress to La Fayette, to-morrow. I ad-
vised him to go. Mr. Hay was with him. Wyer came to talk
about Scott, of Missouri, and his hostility to me.
Januaty 1st, 1825. Saturday, — Mr. H. Humphreys called
upon me for a subscription to a Methodist Episcopalian church
at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Richard Forrest brought me, to
authenticate, an Act of Congress granting to General La Fay-
ette a sum of two hundred thousand dollars and a township of
land. A joint committee of the two Houses were appointed to
communicate to him this Act and ask his acceptance of the
grant, and they presented him the authenticated copy of the
Act this morning.
Mr. Southard, the Secretary of the Navy, called to make
some enquiries on business, and told me he should not attend
at the dinner. He has recently lost a child.
At noon I went to the President's drawing-room, which was
much crowded. Mrs. Adams, being quite unwell, did not go.
I presented to the President, with Mr. Rebello, the Brazilian
Charge d' Affaires, Mr. Oliveira, Secretary of Legation, whom
he had yesterday introduced to me at the Department of State.
Robert P. Letcher, a member of the House of Representatives
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from Kentucky, asked me if I should go to the Department
after the drawing-room. I said I should. He said he would
call there, and did. He told me he had received from home -
many letters lately, and several this morning; that the mem-
bers of the Kentucky Legislature would, in their private
capacities, and not by Legislative Act, recommend to the
members from the State in the House to vote for General
Jackson as President, ^nd popular meetings to pass similar
resolutions had been, and would be, got up. But I might
rely upon it they would have no effect. The vote of Ken-
tucky in the House was fixed and unalterable. He spoke of
the difference between Mr. Clay and me as giving concern to
some of the members of the delegation, and intimated a wish
that I should have some conversation with Mr. Clay upon the
subject. I told him I would very readily, and whenever it
might suit the convenience -of Mr. Clay. I merely read the
dispatches and letters that came by the mail, and signed a few
official papers at the office.
I attended the dinner given by the members of both Houses
of Congress to General La Fayette, at Williamson's Hotel.
It was attended also by the President. About one hundred
and fifty members of the two Houses were present, and about
thirty officers of the Government — civil and military. There
were sixteen regular toasts, after which the President, General
La Fayette, and most of the invited guests retired to the rooms
of Colonel Hayne and Mr. Livingston, where they took coffee
with Mrs. Hayne, Mrs. Livingston, Mrs. Ticknor, and Miss
Gardner. I came home about nine in the evening, and our
family party soon after retired. A storm of rain, afterwards
turning to snow, continued through the day. The President's
Administration was toasted, to which he answered by a short
address of thanks. General La Fayette answered also very
briefly the toast to himself Mr. Clay made a speech about
Bolivar and the cause of South America, and seemed very de-
sirous of eliciting speeches from me and Mr. Calhoun. He
told me that he should be glad to have with me soon some
confidential conversation upon public affairs. I said I should
be happy to have it whenever it might suit his convenience.
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458 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
At the beginning of this year there is in my prospects and
anticipations a solemnity and moment never before experienced,
and to which unaided nature is inadequate.
2d. Visit from Mr. George Hay, lately returned from a long
visit to Richmond. He says they are talking there of Madi-
son's report of 1798 as if they belonged to another planet, and
have not the remotest conception of the present state and con-
dition of Virginia's influence as a member of the Union. He
spoke of the toast at the dinner yesterday complimentary to
the President's Administration ; of the President's address in
answer to it; of the South Carolina resolutions conflicting be-
tween the two Houses of the Legislature; and with much
dissatisfaction of the editors of the National Intelligencer.
A. H. Tracy, member from the State of New York, spent
the evening with me. He is one of the ablest members from
that State, and a man of pure mdrals. He has declined a re-
election to the next Congress, but may perhaps be a candidate
for the Senate. His anticipations are less flattering and gen-
erally more correct than those of most others who converse
with me. Dr. Thornton was here at the close of the even-
ing, still anxious to go to South America or to Greece. I re-
ceived a letter from Mr. Van Buren, enclosing one from D.
Winne, at New York, to him, applying for an appointment as
Consul in South America. Mr. Van Buren requests me to
enable him to answer the letter.
3d. I called this morning at Mr. Van Buren's lodgings, but
he was abroad. T. Randall, with a letter from Mountain, at
the Havanna, about piracies, and a new tonnage duty of two
and a half dollars upon all American vessels. He left the
letter with me.
At the office, H. Forrest, to recommend G. Scott; G. B. Eng-
lish twice, about his compensation and employment ; Dickins,
about General La Fayette, who at the last meeting of the Co-
lumbian Institute, on New Year's day, was elected an honorary
member, and about the dinner on Wednesday. Mr. Montoya,
the Secretary of the Mexican Legation, came, and presented
from the Minister a dozen copies of the Mexican Constitution,
six of them splendidly bound. General Mason called with
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Mr. Dias, who had a claim before the Florida Treaty Commis-
sioners, which was rejected by them. It is now a claim of
1798 against France. On examining the Treaties and Conven-
tions of 1800 and 1803, we found it somewhat desperate; but
Mr. Dias left with me several papers concerning it. Mr. Poin-
sett called to invite me to dine with him to-morrow ; Baron
Tuyl, to ask the return of the paf)er that he left with me some
days since, and to speak again of his solicitude respecting the
Northwest Coast Convention. I gave him one of the bound
copies of the Mexican Constitution. E. H. Mills, of the Com-
mittee of Foreign Relations of the Senate, came, and requested
me to draw a bill for the suppression of piracy, for the con-
sideration of the committee, and mentioned to me measures
contemplated by the committee and to be included in the bill
— among them a blockade, suggested by an energetic member
of the committee. General Jatkson. I called at the President's.
Mr. Southard soon afterwards came in. The President directed
a Cabinet meeting for to-morrow at one, upon the Piracy bill.
I received a dispatch from H. Nelson of 17th November, to
be communicated to the committees of Congress. Evening, I
drafted part of a bill for the suppression of piracy.
4th. Finished the draft of the Piracy bill. W. Findlay called
this morning for the printers of the Pittsburg Statesman, who
feared they should lose the printing of the laws, because they
had been in favor of Mr. Crawford for the Presidency. I told
him the commission had already been sent to the Statesman^
J. J. Morgan brought me two letters from W. H. Ireland and
J. Drake to R. Sharpe, recommending the American to print
the laws in New York. Sharpe himself recommends that
paper, but Morgan himself recommended Noah's Advocate,
and he said Cambreleng was for the Evening Post or the Com-
mercial Advertiser. Mr. Morgan also left with me a letter
from Colonel M. Willett to him. E. H. Mills called, and I read
to him my draft of a bill for the suppression of piracy, but
mentioned the President's desire for a Cabinet consultation
upon it before it should go to the committee. Mills said he
would call for it to-morrow morning. W. Plumer, Jr., came,
and introduced a Mr. Low, bearer of the New Hampshire votes.
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460 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
Plumer called again afterwards. Mr. G. Hay came with the
draft of a message from the President addressed to the Senate,
asking for the appointment of a committee to examine his ac-
counts and his claims. He said there was a similar message to
go to the House of Representatives. I thought it should be a
joint message addressed to both Houses. Mr. Hay disclosed
something of his feelings upon other subjects. Visit from P.
Bentalou. Cabinet meeting. Messrs. Crawford, Calhoun, and
Southard present. Southard read a report to the Senate upon
a resolution calling for facts and opinions from the Secretary
of the Navy, observing that it was in the form of a letter. I
asked him if he usually made his reports to the Houses of
Congress in the first person. He said not usually, but this was
an answer to a direct resolution. I thought committees should
be addressed by letter, and the Houses by report, in the third
person, and mentioned what I had heard of Mr. Dallas*s having
given offence by saying in a report, " When I first came to
Washington." But Calhoun said the offence had been taken
not at the expression, but at Dallas's attributing to himself all
that had been done to restore the finances. There was mudh
discussion upon my draft of a bill to suppress piracy, and two
or three alterations made in it. Others were proposed, but not
deemed material. The President continues averse to block-
ading, and to the arming of merchant-vessels. Mr. Crawford
thought there was an Act prohibiting the arming of merchant-
vessels bound to the West Indies. Mr. Dickins brought me, at
the office, the certificate of the election of General La Fayette
as an honorary member of the Columbian Institute. Mr.
Fuller was at the office, to speak of the piracy documents.
He is of the Naval Committee of H. R., who are also pre-
paring a bill. I read him the draft of the one I had prepared.
Dined at Mr. Poinsett's, with General La Fayette, General Jack-
son, and ten others. I gave General La Fayette the certificate,
and asked him to attend the dinner to-morrow ; but he was
engaged to Mr. Custis, at Arlington.
5th. Mr. Mills, of the Senate, called this morning, and I gave
him the draft of the bill for the suppression of piracy. David
Trimble, member of the House from Kentucky, came, to recom-
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18250 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 461
mend a young man named Harrison, as a bearer of dispatches,
to go beyond sea; and he spoke of a project for abohshing
credits for the payment of duties by foreign merchants — whether
not contrary to our Convention of 18 18 with Great Britain.
Noyes Barber, member of the House from Connecticut, intro-
duced Captain Allen, master of the Cadmus, the vessel in
which General La Fayette came to the United States. Mr.
Reynolds, of Tennessee, came to make enquiry concerning
the printing of the laws in a newspaper in his district. At the
office, Lieutenant Hunter, of the Navy, brought an account
against the Department for carrying dispatches to J. B. Prevost,
at Buenos Ayres, in 18 19, and for conveying several Consuls
to various places in tht Mediterranean. There was no authority
from the Department for incurring these expenses; but he
makes the charges as for expenses incurred in obedience to his
orders from his superior officers. The President, to whom I
took the account, thought it should be allowed. I suggested
to him the expediency of giving some general orders to the
officers respecting the allowance of such charges ; to which he
agreed. Mr. McGinnis came again to the office, concerning
the claim of the administrators of Captain O'Brien ; and Mr.
Pleasanton, the Fifth Auditor, brought the accounts as hereto-
fore settled. After much discussion, I told Mr. McGinnis that,
whatever the accounting officers of the Treasury could admit
as charges heretofore overlooked, I would authorize the allow-
ance of them now, but I could, without an Act of Congress,
allow nothing else. Pleasanton said he must go to Congress
for the whole. Mr. Deas came about his old claim upon France,
and left a pamphlet with me. Mr. Quarles, heretofore a mem-
ber of Congress from Kentucky, called, and Mr. D. Webster.
At the President's, and returned there with Southard. Reso-
lution H. R. U. S. calling for correspondence from the Pacific.
Stewart and Prevost. Question, whether Stewart being to be
tried, this correspondence ought now to be sent in answer to
the call. The President directed a meeting for to-morrow.
6th. Cabinet meeting. Crawford, Calhoun, and Southard
present. A resolution of H. R. calls for the correspondence
of the Government with naval officers and others in the South
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462 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
Sea. This correspondence is full of accusatory matter against
Stewart, late commander of the squadron, and against J. B.
Prevost. Stewart is suspended, and to be tried by a Court-
martial. Prevost is absent, and cannot defend himself. Is it
proper now to communicate the correspondence to Congress,
and excite public prejudice against the one or the other — ^per-
haps both? The unanimous opinion was that it is not. As
the resolution was offered by S. D. Ingham, a friend of Stewart's,
it was suggested that perhaps it had been at his own desire.
But it was thought that made no difference. Prevost's letter of
June last to me was read ; which he concludes with announcing
his determination to retire as soon as a successor should be
sent out to him. I was directed to write to him, giving him
the President's leave to return to the United States, and it was
deemed advisable that there should be an investigation of his
conduct. I was requested also to see Mr. Ingham and ascer-
tain from him the object of his call. The President told me
that he had not been able to find his letter to Harris. His
second letter he thought had been, not to Harris, but to C. J.
IngersoU; and he offered to give his own deposition in the
case. At the office, J. W. Taylor and A. H. Tracy called, to
speak about the printing of the United States laws in the news-
papers in the city of New York. I had already appointed
Snowden's Advocate, with which they were satisfied.
7th. I called this morning at Mr. Van Buren*s lodgings, and
told him that if the young man named Winne, whose letter he
had sent me, soliciting an appointment as Consul in South
America, would indicate any specific port where he wished to
go, I would recommend him to the President. He said he
would write about it. I called next upon Mr. Ingham, and
told him of the President's objection to send to the House of
Representatives the correspondence from the South Sea, impli-
i catingthecharactersofCommodoreStewartand J. B. Prevost I
also assured him that Prevost would have leave to return to the
United States, when the charges against him might be investi-
gated, as well as those against Captain Stewart. Ingham said
that if these circumstances should be stated in the President's
message in answer to the call of the House, it might be proper
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to withhold the whole correspondence. I had visits at home
from D. H. Miller, member of H. R. from Pennsylvania, who
introduced a Mr. Newbold, here upon business for the pro-
prietors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The old
project of inducing Congress to take stock in the company.
Mr. Newbold gave me a pamphlet published by the company.
Visits also from B. W. Crowninshield, who is unwell, and from
T. Fuller. They both recommend R. Freeman as Collector of
New Bedford. Fuller read me an extract of a letter from Bel-
lamy Storer, at Cincinnati, respecting the Postmaster-General,
McLean. Letcher has had much conversation with Fuller
respecting H. Clay. I drafted the ratification of the Northwest
Coast Convention with Russia, and it was annexed to the Con-
vention itself, forwarded by Mr. Middleton. I drafted also a
proclamation to be issued after the exchange of the ratifications.
Evening at home, writing — too rare a record.
8th. The day was absorbed by visitors. At my house,
Samuel Bell, Senator from New Hampshire, with Samuel Dana,
of Massachusetts, who spoke much and made several enquiries
concerning Dr. Jonathan Mayhew; Samuel Eddy, M. H. R.
from Rhode Island, with a Mr. Easton, of Newport; Moses
Hayden, M. H. R. from^ New York ; Samuel Harrison Smith,
with two brothers named Kirkpatrick, and another person, from
New Jersey. At the office, J. L. Sullivan, with Judge Wright,
civil engineer of Erie Canal ; Mr. White, also civil engineer,
employed on Union, in Pennsylvania; Dr. Howard, of the
Board of Internal Improvement, son of Colonel Howard, of
Baltimore; Lieutenant Mayo, of the Navy, twice, about his
claim for bringing dispatches ; Henry Wilson, M. H. R. from
Pennsylvania, to plead for McGinnis upon the O'Brien claim ;
J. T. Sanford, M. H. R. from Tennessee, for a claim of Gilchrist,
an assistant of the marshal of that State, in taking the late
census and account of manufactures; J. Bailey, M. H. R. from
Massachusetts, and Baron Tuyl, to confer upon the exchange
of the ratifications of the Northwest Coast Convention. We
agreed to make it next Tuesday at one ; and he will call again
at the Department on Monday. I dined at the President's with
a company of members of Congress, and attended an evening
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464 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
ball at General Brown's, given to General Jackson in honor of
the day — the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans. The
house was crowded, and the apartments oppressively hot.
General La Fayette, who was there, urged me to go next June
to meet him at the opening of the Bunker Hill Monument
celebration.
9th. Note from H. Clay. Heard Little, from Ecclesiastes
vii. 23 : "I said, I will be wise ; but it was far from me.** And
in the afternoon at Mr. Baker's, a son of Dr. Mason, formerly
of New York, from Hebrews xi. i : " Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This
discourse was not ineloquent, but the learning and morality and
instructiveness of Mr. Little's sermon were more satisfactory
to me. In the interval between the two services, I visited J.
W. Taylor and A. H. Tracy. They are speculating upon the
approaching event, still without conclusive materials for judg-
ment. I received a letter from James Tallmadge, now Lieu-
tenant-Governor of New York, at Albany. Mr. Clay came at
six, and spent the evening with me in a long conversation
explanatory of the past and prospective of the future. He
said that the time was drawing near when the choice must be
made in the House of Representatives of a President from the
three candidates presented by the electoral colleges; that he
had been much urged and solicited with regard to the part in
that transaction that he should take, and had not been five
minutes landed at his lodgings before he had been applied to
by a friend of Mr. Crawford's, in a manner so gross that it
had disgusted him ; that some of my friends also, disclaiming,
indeed, to have any authority from me, had repeatedly applied
to him, directly or indirectly, urging considerations personal
to himself as motives to his cause. He had thought it best to
reserve for some time his determination to himself: first, to
give a decent time for his own funeral solemnities as a candi-
date; and, secondly, to prepare and predispose all his friends
to a state of neutrality between the three candidates who would
be before the House, so that they might be free ultimately to
take that course which might be most conducive to the public
interest. The time had now come at which he might be ex-
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i82S.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 465
plicit in his communication with me, and he had for that pur-
pose asked this confidential interview. He wished me, as far
as I might think proper, to satisfy him with regard to some
principles of great public importance, but without any personal
considerations for himself. In the question to come before the
House between General Jackson, Mr. Crawford, and myself,
he had no hesitation in saying that his preference would be
for me.*
nth. While Mr. Hay was with me, I received a note from
D. Brent, stating that the President had sent for me to attend
a Cabinet meeting. I went immediately to the office, and ex-
changed with Baron Tuyl the ratifications of the N. W. Coast
Convention. Baron Maltitz was with him, and read the original
treaty. I held the Russian ratified copy. Baron Tuyl ours, and
Mr. Ironside the copy received from Baron Tuyl from his Gov-
ernment. We executed in French and English two certificates
of the exchange. I attended the Cabinet meeting at the Presi-
dent's. Calhoun and Southard present. Crawford had been,
but was gone. Negotiation with Creek Indians. Report of
the Commissioners. Letter from D. G. N. to the Secre-
tary of War. The papers given to me to read. P. U. S. told
me he had never communicated to me L. Harris's letter to
C. J. Ingersoll, on account of its rudeness and incivility, and
that Harris's conduct was extremely reprehensible in retaining
the papers. He showed me also two other letters from Harris
to him, which I had never seen before — one of 5th October,
1 8 19, soliciting the appointment of Minister to Russia, and one
of 22d December, 1822, complimentary upon the annual mes-
sage, of which the President had sent him a printed copy.
1 2th. M. Van Buren, S. U. S., called to make enquiries con-
cerning A. B. Woodward, appointed as Judge for the middle
District of Florida. While he was here, Mr. Calhoun came for
the papers relating to the negotiation with the Creek Indians,
which I had read, and now returned to him. G. E. Ironside
« This appears to have been intended for a full report, which the extreme press-
ure of business and visits subsequently prevented the writer from completing.
Long lists of persons calling daily, with their respective wishes, still remain, but they
scarcely retain interest enough to merit the space they would occupy in these pages.
VOL. VI. — 30
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466 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Januaiy,
came concerning some documents erroneously transmitted
from the President to the Senate, instead of being sent to the
printers. Walter Forward, M. H. R. from Pennsylvania, came,
and introduced a Mr. Eichborn, from Pittsburg. W. C. Bradley,
M. H. R. from Vermont, came upon a claim of C. P. Van Ness,
now Governor of that State, late Commissioner under the fifth
article of the Treaty of Ghent He spoke also of the approach-
ing election; of Mr. Chase, the Senator chosen for the next
Congress from Vermont ; and asked if there would be a special
call of the Senate on the 4th of March. He mentioned, like-
wise, the recent message of P. U. S. to Congress upon his
claims and accounts. Bradley, with the misfortune of deafness,
is one of the most intelligent members of Congress. I dined
with Messrs. Van Buren, Van Rensselaer, and McLane, and
took with me the papers requested by Mr. Van Buren. Gen-
eral La Fayette, General Jackson, Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, and
General S. Smith were there. I attended at the drawing-
room, with Mrs. Adams. James Lloyd, of Massachusetts, spoke
of the printing of the documents relating to R. Rush's late
negotiation in England. James Barbour and R. King had
spoken of it last evening. The President said he saw no objec-
tion to their being confidentially printed for the use of the
Senate. I suggested to Mr. Barbour that the papers should
be returned to the Department by the committee, and then
called for by a resolution of Senate, sitting on Executive
business.
13th. I called this morning on James Barbour, S. U. S., and
asked him to return the long report of R. Rush's negotiation,
and then move a call for it^ and for the instructions under which
the negotiation was conducted, in Senate upon Executive busi-
ness. He agreed to take this course. I spoke to him confi-
dentially with regard to the approaching election, and told him
the present condition of things, at which he appeared surprised.
He repeated the unalterable determination of Virginia to vote
in the first instance for Mr. Crawford, but her determination
at all events to vote for another than a mere military leader.
Returning home, I met Mr. R. King, who spoke of a proposi-
tion of J. S. Johnston to apply all the proceeds of land sales to
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iSas.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 467
purposes of education. He (King) thought of proposing that
they should be applied to the emancipation and exportation
of slaves, with the consent of the slave States. He said they
would all consent, north of South Carolina. General Wingate
came, to enquire for an answer to the petition of a man named
Timmins, for a remission of a penalty. He spoke also of the
charges against M. L. Hill, and, in case of his removal, recom-
mended a person named Swanton. At the President's. He
found the petition of Timmins, and a minute of Mr. Hay's
upon it. I asked him if there would be a call of the Senate
on the 4th of March, which, he said, must be considered. I
spoke to him in confidence concerning the election, and said
that whatever might be its result I should wish for his friendly
counsel after the event, and, as far as he might be disposed to
give it, before. I told him my present intention was, in the
event of General Jackson's election, to retire. He spoke cau-
tiously, but expressed a willingness to advise me so far as
might be proper. He said he had at the eve of his first elec-
tion been much beset ; by none more than Jonathan Russell.
Hinted at Mr. Clay's resentments; at the uses made of his
letter to General Jackson, which he again declared he firmly
believed he had never shown to any one. He spoke also of
Forsyth with moderation, but with a sense of injury. He read
me his message upon piracy, this day sent in.
iSth. Horatio Seymour, S. U. S. from Vermont, in great
concern about the instructions, from the Kentucky House of
Representatives to the members of that delegation here, to
vote for General Jackson as President. He is alarmed for its
probable effect on the votes of all the Western States. I
advised him to see and converse with Mr. Clay.
Colonel R. M. Johnson, S. U. S. from Kentucky, who told
me there was an article in the Lexington Reporter stating that
it was said the instructions had been given by the advice of
one of the Senators of the State at Washington ; and, as it was
known Talbot took no part in the election, the imputation
was upon him (Johnson). But he solemnly protested that he
had not written any such letter, and intimated that the in-
structions were given in consequence of Mr. Clay's own par-
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468 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUIJVCY ADAMS. [January,
tisans having taken so much pains to make me unpopular in
the State, for which he believed they were now very sorry.
Johnson professed neutrality between General Jackson and me,
and said he should be well satisfied if either of us should be
elected.
Mr. Whittlesey, M. H. R. from Ohio, introduced a cousin of
his, of the same name, from Connecticut. Mr. Ironside came
with a new copy of my last report to P. U. S. on two resolu-
tions of the Senate concerning the piracies, for me to sign.
The former copy was mislaid at the President's, and not sent
with his message.
G. Sullivan came, to talk about the Kentucky instructions,
and to ask if the bringing forward the Massachusetts claim in
H. R. might not affect unfavorably the Presidential election.
I said it should be brought forward without any regard
to the election whatever, and whatever its effect upon that
might be.
He said he had told Mr. Calhoun that would be what I
should say, but Mr. Calhoun advised that the claim should not
be brought forward if it would affect unfavorably the election ;
and he himself thought the interest of Massachusetts was
greater in the election than in the claim.
I told him I believed the votes upon the election were al-
ready so fixed that the claim would have no effect upon them
whatever.
D. Raymond, of Baltimore, called, and mentioned to me the
sudden death of General R. G. Harper there yesterday morning.
Harper, but a few days since, had published an address to the
public, offering himself as a candidate for the H. R. U. S. for
the Twentieth Congress, to be voted for two years hence.
Isaac McKim, M. H. R. from Baltimore, came with young
Hollins for a claim appealed from the Havanna to Spain;
wishing for the interposition of the Government in his favor.
At the office, came General Call, delegate from Florida, who
said he would recommend some person for District Attorney
in the place of W. F. Steele.
S. A. Foote, M. H. R. from Connecticut, startled at the Ken-
tucky Legislative instructions. J. Bailey, somewhat affected in
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1825.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 469
the same manner, said J. S. Barbour told him the Virginia
delegation would vote for Jackson.
The Baron de Mareuil came, and noticed several errors in
the translation of his letter to me, published in the news-
papers, respecting the authentication of certificates of origin
by French Consuls in the United States. He enquired also if
I had an answer from the Secretary of the Treasury to the en-
quiry whether the discriminating duties on French vessels and
cargoes had been reduced one-quarter on the ist of October.
I had received this morning the answer, which I read to
him, and the substance of which he requested me to commu-
nicate officially to him. He intimated a wish that I had in-
formed him of my intention to publish in the newspapers the
translation of his letter to me, but said he had no objection to
the publication, and that it was perhaps the most convenient
mode of diffusing the information.
i6th. Taylor and Tracy dined with me. Taylor said that
he had been solicited to take charge in H. R. of the message
from P. U. S. relating to his accounts and claims, which he
had declined. It was at last undertaken, very reluctantly, by
Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania.
17th. W. C. Bradley, member from Vermont, was here, and
afterwards W. Plumer, Jr., of New Hampshire, much concerned
about these instructions from the Legislature of Kentucky.
Bradley said he had seen Clay this morning, who told him the
resolutions would confirm the majority of the delegation in
their determination to vote otherwise, but who spoke of the
event of the election as exceedingly uncertain — of Missouri
and Illinois particularly, the votes of both the States being in
single persons. Bradley said he had urged Clay to see me,
but Clay had told him it was altogether unnecessary — that his
course was fixed, and he should consider the elevation of the
Hero as the greatest calamity which could befall the country.
Plumer spoke again about Webster, and his ambition to go
as Minister to England, which I thought might be gratified
hereafter, but not immediately. James Lloyd, Senator, came,
and mentioned that Mr. William Patterson, of Baltimore, had
been appointed one of the directors of the Bank of the United
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470 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
States on the part of the Government, having already been
chosen a director by the stockholders, which, he thought, was
contrary to law.
At the office. Letter from L. Cheves, and Journal of the
Commissioners under the Slave Indemnity Commission. At
the President's. Spoke of the special call of the Senate on the
4th of March. To look into the precedents. Internal improve-
ment. The President spoke of bills now before Congress on
that subject. I left many papers with him. But public busi-
ness grows irksome to him as he approaches the close of his
Administration. I mentioned this to Mr. Southard, whom I
met as I was returning home to dinner, and who stopped to
give me papers relating to the quarrel between Bennett, the
Consul at Pemambuco, and Kirkpatrick. He was himself
unwell.
1 8th. Dr. Thornton called this morning to give me some
information respecting the prospects of the election. It re-
spected the Kentucky and Ohio delegations, and concurred
with what I had heard before.
Mr. S. L. Southard came, to ask for the papers he had left
with me yesterday, of which Mr. Kirkpatrick wishes to take
copies. I gave them to him. He then asked me some ques-
tions respecting the election, upon which I spoke to him with
entire confidence. I asked him if he wished me so to speak to
him, and he said he did. I told him of the present state of
things, so far as it is known to myself; of the present pros-
pect, that a majority of the friends of Mr. Clay and Mr. Craw-
ford would finally vote for me, but that the whole of the aspect
may be changed from day to day. I mentioned the doubtful
situation both of the New York and Virginia delegations, and
how they will be liable to be swayed by the slightest incident
which may occur between this and the day of election. And
I informed him of the exertions made and making by De Witt
Clinton, both in the State of New York and with its delegation
here, to secure the election of General Jackson — ^particularly
that he had written to General Van Rensselaer, and spoken to
M. Hayden,'to prevail on them to vote for him. I observed
that he had an agent here, acting for him as far as he could,
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iSasO THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 471
and through whom I believed he had influenced the election in
New Jersey.
Southard said he had no doubt he had. He repeated that
he himself had been deeply mortified at the result of the elec-
tion in New Jersey, and was sure that it it did not express the
voice or the feeling of the people of that State. He said that
when he came into the Administration he had no particular
regard for me ; that his sentiment towards me was one of in-
difference, he had perhaps some prepossessions against me;
but for the last twelve months he trusted I had no doubt of
his friendly disposition to me.
I said I had not. Of the New Jersey delegation, he thought
there were three in my favor — Matlack, Condit, and Swan, or
Garrison.
I told him I had heard the vote of the State would depend
upon Dr. Holcombe. I told him that, from the relations exist-
ing between us, I should need his friendly advice, whatever the
event of the election might be; that until very recently I had
not expected it would be necessary for me to anticipate the
event of my election as one for which it would be proper for
me even to be prepared. Doubtful and uncertain as it now is,
I must yet think of it as a contingency upon which I may be
called to act. I should in that event rely upon his continuing
in the station which he now holds, and from the moment of the
election, and perhaps before, should frequently want the assist-
ance of his counsel.
He said that he should at all times be glad to give it, and
that he was glad I had made this communication to him.
I was at the President's, and he agreed to the form of a cir-
cular to the Senators, calling them to a meeting on the 4th of
March next. In the cases wherein there has been no election
by the State Legislature of a Senator for the period to com-
mence on the 4th of March, I proposed to notify the sitting
Senator, who may give the notice to the Executive of the State ;
to which the President assented.
19th. D. Webster and J. Reed were at the office, and con-
versed upon the topic which absorbs all others. Webster said
there were persons who pretended to know how a member
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472 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
would vote by the manner in which he put on or took off
his hat.
Wyer told me that there had arisen a coolness between the
President and Mr. Rufus King — occasioned by the publication
of the President's letter to General Jackson, which charged
some of the leading federalists with monarchical designs ; that
Mr. King had not called to take leave of the President at the
close of the last session of Congress, as he had been wont
to do, and had not visited him, or been invited to dine with
him, this session. Wyer spoke also of Garnett, who is again
very ill.
T. Fuller came just before I was leaving the office. I told
him I had seen Mr. Clay, and found his impressions respecting
the Western delegations such as mine.
I had called at General Brown's office on going to mine, to
return him a letter from Ambrose Spencer to him, recom-
mending H. Wheaton for a mission to South America, which
Brown had sent me to read, and which had been in the Presi-
dent's possession. Brown spoke of Spencer, De Witt Clinton,
Calhoun, McLean, the Postmaster-General, and Southard. His
opinion of Calhoun is changed, and he has no longer the same
confidence in him as heretofore. He says Calhoun yesterday
was fully convinced that the Western States would vote for
Jackson, and that his election was certain. He must either be
grossly misinformed or too well informed. I received a letter
from James Tallmadge, which shows that Brown is not well
informed of the movements of Ambrose Spencer.
20th. Morning visits at my house from A. H. Everett, J.
Sloane, member from Ohio, with a Mr. Bissell, from that State,
D. P. Cook, member from Illinois, and W. Plumer, Jr., from
New Hampshire. J. Reed, member from Massachusetts, came,
but, finding company with me, promised to call again. Cook
told me that some time since he had been informed by three
persons of weight in the Western delegations that they would
all vote for General Jackson. He had received also letters
from some of his warmest friends in Illinois, and of those who
had been my warmest friends, advising him, in that event, to
vote with the other Western members, as by standing out alone
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18250 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 473
for me he would only sacrifice himself without serving me.
But he was now satisfied that Ohio and Kentucky would vote
for me — probably Missouri, and perhaps Louisiana. He should,
therefore, be at liberty to vote according to his own inclinations.
He said he had been conversing with Scott, of Missouri, who
was very well disposed to go with the other Western delega-
tions, but who had some grievances against me about the ap-
pointments for printing the laws, and about some letter that I
had written to one of the printers. Plumer said that General
McArthur had intimated as advisable that the delegation from
Ohio should have a meeting, determine upon their vote, and
then that the members should without reserve signify their
intentions, so that there might be no longer occasion to doubt
concerning it.
2 1 St. Morning visits from R. P. Letcher, of Kentucky, J.
Scott, of Missouri, J. Reed, of Massachusetts, J. McKim, of
Maryland, and W. C. Bradley, of Vermont, members H. R.,
and from B. O. Tayloe and P. Force.
Letcher brought me a letter from G. Robertson, formerly a
member of the House, now in the Kentucky Legislature ; and
he told me that Scott would call upon me this morning, and
he mentioned the proceedings in the Kentucky delegation after
they received what they call their instructions.
Scott came, and gave me the list of the printers whom he
wished to have appointed for printing the laws in Missouri.
They were the same that had been appointed last year. Scott
explained to me his causes of complaint against me, which
consisted only in my having appointed several years since one
newspaper to print the laws in Missouri, which was politic-
ally opposed to him. He appeared to be satisfied with the
assurances that I gave him, that I had not in that, or any
other instance, acted with intentions unfriendly to him. He
spoke of the application to the President for the removal of
his brother as a Judge in the Territory of Arkansas, for having
killed in a duel his colleague on the bench.
I told him there was such an application, which had been
made as long since as last summer. But as the President had
not acted upon it hitherto, I thought he would not.
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474 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
Scott then proceeded to speak of the approaching election,
and said that he had made up his mind to vote with the other
Western delegations, but intimated that he should incur great
opposition for it in his own State. He spoke of himself as
being entirely devoted to Mr. Clay, and of his hope that he
would be a member of the next Administration.
I told him that he would not expect me to enter upon de-
tails with regard to the formation of an Administration, but
that if I should be elected by the suffrages of the West I should
naturally look to the West for much of the support that I should
need.
He parted from me apparently satisfied.
Reed came to speak about Webster, Louis McLane, and the
federalists. His own disposition is favorable to me; but Web-
ster is specially apprehensive that the federalists will be excluded
from office by me.
I told Reed that I should exclude no person for political
opinions, or for personal opposition to me ; that my great object
would be to break up the remnant of old party distinctions,
and bring the whole people together in sentiment as much as
possible.
Bradley told me that General Jackson had yesterday, or the
day before, paid a visit to Mr. Crawford, and they had been
reconciled together, with mutual assurances that there had
never been any personal hostility towards each other. I have
expected this movement ever since the development of the
Western phalanx, and if, as is highly probable, it brings all
the Crawford force in the House to bear in favor of Jackson,
it will be decisive of the election.
Bradley likewise told me that Mills was in favor of Jackson,
and had written to Northampton to promote his cause; and
that H. W. Edwards, the Senator from Connecticut, instigated
by Calhoun, had been tampering with N. Barber and Stoddard,
members from that State, to vote for Jackson. They were
originally for Crawford ; and Sterling and Whitman, originally
Calhounites, will also vote for Jackson — which would give
him the State. Bradley said Barber had been with him, and
expressed a willingness to vote for me, but an apprehension
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iSasO THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 475
that I should turn out Law, the Collector at New London,
and some other revenue officers, who had been for Crawford.
I assured Bradley that I should turn out no person for his
conduct or opinions in relation to the election.
Mr. McKim read me a letter to him from one of his con-
stituents at Baltimore, concerning the call for the correspond-
ence with the Netherlands relating to claims.
I told him the call was already made, in a resolution offered
by Mr. Webster.
22d. J. Scott, of Missouri, called to say that he had been
under some apprehension, from what he had said yesterday,
that I might consider him as having been disposed to prescribe
conditions or make bargains.
I told him I had not so understood him, and that he had said
nothing yesterday that I had received in that sense.
He said he had not meant to speak positively. He had not
then, and had not now, entirely made up his mind how he
should vote ; but his prevailing impression was, that he should
act with his friends.
This apprehension, that he had spoken yesterday too posi-
tively, is characteristic. Scott means to vote with the strongest
side.
At the office came, successively, A. H. Tracy, J. Branch,
Senator from North Carolina, Mr. Rebello, Charge d'Affaires
from Brazil, Mr. Quarles, formerly a member of the House
from Kentucky, R. M. Johnson, Senator from that State, J.
Bailey, member from Massachusetts, and E. Wyer. Tracy
had not heard of the visit of General Jackson to Mr. Craw-
ford, but had observed the reviving spirits of Jackson's friends
in the House within the last two days.
Rebello came to make a proposition from the Brazilian
Government for a treaty of alliance, eventual with the United
States, and to which, on certain contingencies, the republican
Governments of South America should also be parties.
I desired him to send me the proposal in writing, to be laid
before the President for consideration.
He manifested great earnestness for the appointment of a
formal diplomatic Agent from the U. S. to Brazil before the close
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476 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [January,
of the present session of Congress. I told him it might be
postponed till the commencement of the next Administration.
Quarles talked in a manner somewhat desultory about the
election and about Kentucky. R. M. Johnson came, to enquire
concerning the circular to the Senators to attend in the Senate-
chamber on the 4th of March next, for Mr. Rowan, the new
Senator from Kentucky.
I told him the letter had already been dispatched to Mr.
Rowan.
Johnson spoke also of the election, and said that Kentucky
would vote for me seven to five ; that Ohio would be for me,
and, he believed, Scott, of Missouri; that Daniel Pope Cook,
of Illinois, would vote for Jackson, though much against his
inclination.
I asked him if he was sure.
He said Cook had told him so a week ago ; that Maryland
and Louisiana were claimed by both sides, but Virginia, North
Carolina, and Georgia would vote for Jackson. The Colonel
spoke under evident excitement, and with certainly good in-
formation. His enumeration is the most correct that I have
heard of, and, coupled with Scott's second visit to me this
morning, and with various other symptoms disclosed within
three days, satisfies me to a certainty that the issue of the
election will be against me.
Dr. Thornton told me this morning that a friend of Mr.
Crawford had told him that Mr. Crawford would in no event
continue in the Treasury, but would return to Georgia; that
Mr. Cobb was to resign his seat in the Senate, and Crawford
was to come in his place. " Credat Judaeus Apella."
23d. Mr. and Mrs. D. P. Cook spent the evening with us,
and A. H. Tracy. Cook informed me of the labors of Ingham,
R. M. Johnson, and McDuffie to prevail upon him to vote for
General Jackson. Exhortations, promises, threats — nothing
has been spared. Ingham promised him the Government of
Arkansas. R. M. Johnson bewailed the ruin which Cook was
about to bring upon himself by voting for me. McDuffie
threatened him with a formal, determined, and organized oppo-
sition to the Administration if I should be chosen. All the
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sources of hope and fear in his bosom were searched, and
they will eventually prevail. Cook and Ingham lodge both at
Fletcher's. Yesterday Ingham sent for Cook to come to his
chamber; there he found McDuffie, and there received this
lesson from him. R. M. Johnson went immediately from me
yesterday to Cook, and told him that I expected his vote ; upon
which an explanation between them took place. Cook had not
heard of the reconciliation between General Jackson and Mr.
Crawford, and was surprised to hear of it.
Tracy observed the renewed confidence of the Jackson party,
and the correspondent wavering of others.
24th. I had received yesterday a note from the President,
intimating his intention to make without delay the nominations
for appointments which he has left hitherto for his successor.
I called at the President's, and had some conversation with him
on this point. I told him it would be impossible for him to
make the nominations before the election of President in the
House without having some bearing, or being supposed to
have some, upon the election ; and I read to him a communicated
article in the Richmond Enquirer of Saturday, which I had no
doubt was sent from this place, severely commenting upon the
appointment of members of Congress, and in a very arrogant
manner warning him against the appointment of Poinsett, or of
another member, as Minister to Mexico.
He determined to consider of it further. He told me that
he thought of nominating A. H. Everett as Minister to Spain ;
transferring J. A. Smith to Madrid, as Secretary of Legation,
and Appleton, in the same capacity, to London ; and that he
should nominate General Izard, of South Carolina, as Gov-
ernor of Arkansas.
I told him I should be highly gratified with the appointment
of Mr. Everett to Spain ; that I believed the transfer of Smith
to Madrid, and of Appleton to London, would be the most
proper arrangement that could be made to do justice to all
parties ; and that I could have no objection to the appointment
of Izard as Governor of Arkansas. But I wished him to con-
sider whether for his own sake, rather than mine, he had not
better defer these nominations till after the election, as I be-
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478 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. [January,
lieved they would otherwise be suspected at least to have a
bearing on that event.
After I returned from the President's, Mr. Southard called
at my office. He spoke of the President's views with respect
to the appointments. He glanced at the election, of which,
however, he spoke with great reserve.
25th. George Sullivan was here, and conversed with me on
the subject of the Massachusetts claim, which he has within a
few days been desirous of bringing forward now. But he has
had intimations from friends of mine that at this time it might
excite heats and affect the prospects of the election. I have
uniformly advised him to bring forward the claim at the time
most advantageous for its success, whatever might be its effects
upon the election ; but I recommended to him to advise with
the members best acquainted with the temper of the House,
whether the claim itself would now have so fair a chance of
success as after the election. There is at this moment a very
high state of excitement in the House, Mr. Clay and the majority
of the Ohio and Kentucky delegations having yesterday un-
equivocally avowed their determination to vote for me. This
immediately produced an approximation of the Calhoun, Craw-
ford, and Jackson partisans, and will effectually knit the coali-
tion of the South with Pennsylvania.
W. Plumer, Jr., and A. H. Tracy were here, and both spoke
of this incident as having produced a great sensation in the
House. It appears that General Jackson has not visited Mr.
Crawford, but that the ladies have interchanged visits, and that
Mr. Samuel Swartwout, of New Jersey, has meditated a peace
between the General and the Secretary of the Treasury. Plumer
had yesterday a conversation with L. McLane, of Delaware,
who told him they would overthrow the Capitol sooner than
he would vote for Jackson, but who professed an intention
almost as decided not to vote for me. The impression almost
universal, made yesterday, was that the election was settled in
my favor ; but the result of the counter-movement will be the
real crisis, and I have little doubt that will be decisive the other
way. My situation will be difficult and trying beyond my
powers of expression. May but my strength be proportioned
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to my trial ! I went with a letter from Dr. Mason, of New
York, recommending Mr. Warner, to Mr. Calhoun's office, but
he was at the President's. I found him there with Mr. Southard.
The Professorship of West Point is to be given to Mr. Mcllvaine,
of Georgetown. The Secretary of the Navy had Piatt's report
of the origin of Porter's affair at Porto Rico. The case appears
upon this report very disadvantageously to Porter. I spoke of
Mr. O'Brien's enquiries, whether a vessel of war was to be sta-
tioned on our Eastern coast. The want of the force appeared
to be the principal objection. No decision.
26th. Mr. Thomas, the Naval Architect, was here, fo solicit
employment. Dr. Thornton, to say that he had it very directly
from Mr. Crawford's family that he was, and would be, my
friend, and that the overtures from General Jackson to him
had not succeeded. J. McLean, the Postmaster-General, intro-
duced to me a Colonel Bond, from Ohio.
W. C. Bradley came, to tell me that Jennings, member from
Indiana, had informed him that Noble, the Senator from that
State, intended to move in Senate a resolution to call for
the correspondence respecting the appointment of printers in
that State. Noble's object was to injure me in Indiana for
appointing an old paper again, instead of a new one recom-
mended by him. And Jennings was very desirous I should
write to Noble to prevent this call.
I told Bradley I would do anything in the case that Jennings
would wish for his sake; but that, for my own, I had not the
least objection to Noble's call.
T. Fuller was here, and R. Dunlap, with whom I agreed
to close the taking of my depositions at seven this evening.
At the office, successively came J. R. Poinsett, to make enqui-
ries concerning the right of landing on a foreign territory in
fresh pursuit of pirates. I furnished him with authorities and
precedents — Vattel, the Ordonnance de la Marine, of Valin,
Azuni on Piracy, and on Maritime Law, and the documents in
General Jackson's Seminole War campaign.
Crowninshield, rather to seek than to give any information;
and General Brown, who told me that he had now fully ascer-
tained that Mr. Southard, the Secretary of the Navy, had been,
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48o MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January.
and would be, neutral on the Presidential election. Bradley-
had told me that the New Jersey delegation had a meeting
yesterday, and determined to vote for Jackson. Brown said
he had no doubt of Mr. Southard's neutrality, because he had
assured Major Towson he should be neutral ; Towson having
been extremely anxious that he should take side with General
Jackson. Southard's neutrality is just as useful to Jackson's
cause as his most devoted support would be, because it decides
the vote of New Jersey in his favor. Towson is under deep
personal obligations to Calhoun, and I have no doubt has
acted by his instigation. I gave General Brown my impres-
sions respecting the present course of Mr. Calhoun, and found
that Brown's opinions very reluctantly coincided with mine.
27th. W. Plumer, Jr., and H. E, Martindale, with A. H.
Tracy. While Plumer was with me I received a note from H.
Clay, proposing to call on me this evening at six. I asked
Plumer, who was going immediately to the House, to say to
Mr. Clay that I had company to dine with me this evening,
but would see him at any other time that would suit his con-
venience, at my house or at his lodgings.
General Brown came, and told me that he had had a long
and grave conversation this morning with Mr. Calhoun, who,
with the most solemn asseverations, had declared himself
neutral between General Jackson and me, and that his personal
wish was for my election. This contrasts singularly with the
conduct of all his electioneering partisans.
Letcher called, and mentioned Mr. Clay's wish to see me
this evening. I told him of my engagement, but promised
to be at home to receive him to-morrow evening.
At one o'clock I presented to the President Baron Tuyl, the
Russian Minister, with Count Medem, to take leave, on his
departure to carry the ratified treaty to St. Petersburg. The
audience was of not more than five minutes' duration.
Mr. Rebello, the Brazilian Charge d'Affaires, came to propose
an alliance between the United States and Brazil, with invita-
tion to the other South American States to accede to it.
I invited him to commit his proposal to writing, and promised
then to lay it before the President
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He expressed also much anxiety for the appointment, before
the close of the present session of Congress, of a diplomatic
mission to Brazil.
I told him it might be postponed till the commencement of
the next Administration. ,
Mr. Rufus King, Senator from New York, came, and had a
long conversation with me upon the present state and aspect
of things. They are flattering for the immediate issue, but the
fearful condition of them is, that success would open to a far
severer trial than defeat. I spoke to Mr. King of the coldness
and alienation which has taken place between him and the
President, occasioned by an opinion expressed by Mr. Monroe
in a letter to General Jackson, that some of the leaders of the
federal party had been monarchists. I wished that these two
cotemporary distinguished men, retiring to private life at the
same time, after so many years of public service together,
should part in friendship. But I found Mr. King too much
hurt for reconciliation, and that an abortive attempt to effect it
had already been made through C. F. Mercer.
28th. H. U. Addington came, and I mentioned to him the wish
of E. F. Tattnall to procure (copies) from the British Govern-
ment archives relating to the history of Georgia. I had written
about it yesterday to R. Rush. Addington readily promised
all the assistance in his power. He spoke of the Slave-Trade
Convention, with very little expectation for the present.
The Baron de Mareuil came, and again asked for an answer to
his note concerning the reduction of the discriminating duties.
He also mentioned the complaint against our Consul at Tan-
gier, Mullowny, for harboring in his house the Spanish fugitives
from Tarifa. I had received a note from the Spanish Charge
d* Affaires, Salmon, charging Mullowny with protecting and
abetting them there, en proyecto, against the Spanish Govern-
ment; and a letter from Mullowny himself, giving his account
of the affair, vindicating himself, and complaining of the French
Consul.
I told the Baron that further information would be taken upon
the subject; that if the Consul had harbored conspirators against
the Spanish Government while in pursuit of their objects, he
VOL. VI.— 31
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482 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
would not be countenanced by us ; but if he had merely af-
forded a momentary shelter and hospitality to unfortunate
fugitives from another country, whatever their projects might
have been there, I did not think it a matter suitable for repre-
sentations calling censure upon him from any foreign nation.
The Baron thought there were gradations of censure, some
severe, some slight; and the mere reception (accueil) of persons
like the fugitives from Tarifa might be considered as an indis-
cretion.
I asked him to suppose they had escaped to this country.
Would representations against the reception of them have
been proper?
He thought there was a distinction between the cases, but
said, as Mr. Salmon had made a direct complaint, and I had
assured him further enquiry would be made into the facts, he
should say no more about it.
I dined at Mr. Salazar's, the Colombian Minister's, and passed
the evening at home alone, expecting that Mr. Clay would call ;
but he did not.
29th. Mr. John Forsyth, Chairman of the Committee of
Foreign Relations H. R. U. S., came to make enquiry for a
proclamation of blockade by the Spanish General Morales. I
went to the President's, and found him preparing to go down
to the ship North Carolina. I spoke to him of the instructions
to be given to Commodore Rodgers, of the application of C.
Bolton, and of some other concerns, all of which he postponed
till his return here Monday morning. I mentioned particu-
larly the application of Mr. Estwick Evans, of New Hampshire,
for a passage on board the North Carolina, to go to Greece.
He made a minute of it, to speak to Mr. Southard and Com-
modore Rodgers.
Returning from the President's to my office, I met W.
Plumer, Jr., with Mr. Evans, whom he introduced to me, and
told them what the President had said. I met also Count
Medem, who had been at the office to take leave ; going to-
morrow morning to embark at New York, with the ratified
Northwest Coast Convention.
I dined with Mr. George Sullivan. The party consisted of
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Mr. Clay, the Speaker, Mr. Salazar, the Colombian Minister,
J. S. Johnston, Senator, and E. Livingston, member from Loui-
siana, T. Newton, W. Archer, and J. Taliaferro, members from
Virginia, James Hamilton, member from South Carolina, A. H.
Everett, and Miss Stockton, who is residing with Mrs. Sullivan.
The party, though variously selected, was exceedingly good-
humored and jovial, and it was past nine in the evening when
we broke up.
On my return home, Mr. Clay came in, and sat with me a
couple of hours, discussing all the prospects and probabilities
of the Presidential election. He spoke to me with the utmost
freedom of men and things; intimated doubts and preposses-
sions concerning individual friends of mine, to all which I
listened with due consideration. He was anxious for the con-
ciliation of Webster and Louis McLane, and expressed some
jealousy as from Webster of the persons by whom he supposed
me to be surrounded.
I told him the sources of Webster's anxieties, and my own
earnest desire to conciliate him ; the manner in which my over-
tures had been received by him, and my own high opinion of
his talents and capacities for service.
He spoke of Jabez B. Hammond, as being here to promote
the views of Governor Clinton, of New York, though, he said,
Hammond was his friend also — and he was very desirous of
learning whatever might come to my knowledge in the course
of the ensuing week, and which it may be interesting for him
to know. His own situation is critical and difficult. He is
attacked with fury in the newspapers for having come out
for me, and threats of violence have been largely thrown out
by the partisans of General Jackson, particularly those of the
Calhoun interest. Richard M. Johnson told me at the draw-
ing-room last Wednesday that it had been seriously proposed
to him, in the event of the failure of Jackson's election, to erect
his standard; and I received this morning an anonymous letter
from Philadelphia threatening organized opposition and civil
war if Jackson is not chosen. Just like Ingham's and McDuf-
fie's talk to Cook. This blustering has an air of desperation.
But we must meet it.
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484 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
30th. A. H. Tracy, H. Seymour, and R. C. Mallary were here
in the evening. The intenseness of interest in the issue of the
Presidential election increases as the day approaches. Sey-
mour and Mallary came to converse about it altogether. The
intriguing for votes is excessive, and the means adopted to
obtain them desperate. Tracy is more doubtful than ever of
the vote of the New York delegation.
31st. Card from H. Clay ^his morning in the National Intel-
ligencer.' Jonathan Jennings, member from Indiana, introduced
a Mr. Gregg from that State. Jennings told me that W. Hen-
dricks, the present Governor, was elected to the Senate. D.
H. Miller, member from Pennsylvania, brought a Mr. Robbins,
who had an application for a patent.
G. Sullivan came, and told me that the President had returned
from his visit to the ship North Carolina ; that he was deter-
mined this day or to-morrow to make the nominations to all
the foreign missions; that A. H. Everett was to be appointed
to Spain or Mexico, and that M. Stokes, of North Carolina, was
also to be appointed to a mission. Sullivan afterwards called
at the office, and said that Calhoun and Southard were there,
he had no doubt, engaged in prevailing upon the President to
make these nominations now,
I called at the President's, and found Messrs. Calhoun and
Southard with him, but they immediately withdrew. I deliv-
ered to him two or three dispatches received from R. Rush,
and the letter last received from S. MuUowny. I also read to
him the note received from S. Rebello, Charge d' Affaires from
Brazil, proposing an alliance offensive and defensive ; which, he
said, must be declined. He soon began to speak, however, of
the nominations, and said he believed he should send them in
immediately.
I observed that I should be perfectly satisfied if he would
determine upon his selection of the persons now, and prepare
the nominations; but I was convinced it would much increase
the excitement, already great and every day inflaming, if he
should send in the nominations now or before the election. I
« This was the paper relative to Mr. George Kremer, member from Pennsylvania,
which xoade a great sensation at this critical moment in the election.
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asked him if he had been advised to this measure by Mr.
Calhoun.
He said he had, and by Mr. Southard, by Mr. Elliott, Senator
from Georgia, and by Mr. Taliaferro, member from Virginia.
I said that the motives of all these gentlemen, or of those
by whom they were instigated, were suspicions of me — sus-
picions that I was using these vacant missions as lures to
promote my own election in the House. They wished to take
this weapon out of my hands. They were mistaken. The
only person whom I wished to recommend to him was one of
those whom he proposed to nominate. I was willing he should
fix all his nominations now. It would disconcert no arrange-
ments of mine, and I had no suspicion that General Jackson
would use the suspension of them to promote his election.
The President had named G. M. Dallas, Henry Wheaton,
Garnett, and M. Stokes, and Benton, as candidates for the
Mexican mission. He said he had proposed it to Poinsett, who
had declined.
I said I had objections to only one of these persons, and
they arose from my belief of his incompetency to theirust of a
mission abroad. I named him, and the President fully con-
curred with me in opinion. I spoke of Mr. Benton's talents
with respect, though, after his violent and deadly feuds with
General Jackson, he had within a few days come out for him.
The President intimated that Poinsett had recommended
Benton to him ; which resolves the whole mystery. The Presi-
dent thought that the agreement between Mr. Elliott and Mr.
Calhoun proved that their opinion could not be founded on
the same motive with reference to the election, and was utterly
astonished when I informed him of the movements towards
coalition between General Jackson and Mr. Crawford. He had
never heard of the visits exchanged between their ladies, nor
of the advances made between their friends, to a concert of
opposition to me. He told me that Mr. Crawford had often
spoken to him with the utmost severity of the character of
General Jackson in regard to moral principle, and that Jackson
had done the same of Crawford ; that more than two years
since Jackson had urged him very earnestly to remove Craw-
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486 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [January,
ford from the Treasury ; that he had then told Jackson that
Crawford had claims upon his forbearance and friendship which
he had perhaps upon no other man; that he had explained
these to General Jackson, who admitted the force of them, and
had not spoken to him upon the subject since.
We had much more conversation, in which the President
appeared to be greatly shocked at the idea of a coalition be-
tween General Jackson and Mr. Crawford. He said it was
horrible to think of. He said Elliott was the only man of the
Georgia delegation who saw him in a friendly manner; that
Elliott, at the last session of Congress, had spoken to him with
the deepest distrust of Calhoun, and when I told him that I
knew Elliott had said the Georgia delegation would in the last
resort vote for Jackson, he seemed scarcely to credit his own
ears. He spoke of Mr. Crawford's conduct respecting his Ad-
ministration as he had done before. He thought that when,
two or three years since, the violent opposition against the
Administration was roused by Crawford's friends, and appar-
ently under his countenance, in disavowing that opposition
he ought to have done some act publicly to separate himself
from them.
I thought so too.
But he said that in consequence of his former relations with
Mr. Crawford, he had treated him with uniform and unqualified
kindness — instancing his permitting him the use of a fac-simile
signature, and forbearing to appoint a temporary acting Secre-
tary of the Treasury, upon the certificate of Mr. Crawford's
physicians that he was competent to discharge the duties of
his office.
I said I approved this, and thought that as there had not
been sufficient cause for him to remove Mr. Crawford, so there
would not be sufficient cause for his successor to remove him.
The President said he had long supposed Mr. Southard and
Mr. Calhoun were friendly to my election.
I said I believed Mr. Southard was, but his situation neu-
tralized him, or made him act counter to his wishes, and he
was under extreme pressure to support the cause of General
Jackson. Mr. Calhoun's case was different. His situation was
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peculiar, and so had been his conduct. I did not believe his
wishes were favorable to me.
The President said he would further consider the case of the
nominations.
After I returned to the office, Sullivan, and Wyer, and T.
Fuller were there. Fuller informed me that Forsyth had this
day told him that Georgia would vote for Crawford to the last.
Mr. Addington, the British Charge d'Affaires, was this
morning at the office, with a newspaper rumor from Europe
that the King of Spain had declared that unless the United
States would revoke the recognition of the South American
republics, he would revoke the cession of the Floridas. I
read to Mr. Addington the dispatch from H. Nelson, of 2ist
November, 1824, which contained ample refutation of the
rumor.
February ist. I called this morning on Mr. Van Buren,
S. U. S. from New York, and told him that I believed the
young man recommended by him for the appointment of
Consul at Saint Jago of Chili, Daniel Wynne, would be nomi-
nated, but perhaps not till after the election in the House.
He said it had been reported yesterday at the Senate that
it would in the course of the day be sent in.
I told him I had read his speech of yesterday on the Piracy
bill, and thanked him for rectifying a mistake which had repre-
sented me as favoring the section which authorized, on certain
contingencies, a blockade of the ports of Cuba.
He spoke to me of Mr. R. King, his colleague, whose time
expires with this session of Congress, and who has declined a
re-election — I supposed because he could not have been re-
chosen. Van Buren said that was the fact He told me that
King had shown him a very interesting correspondence between
Gouverneur Morris and him about the Hartford Convention.
Morris had pressed him exceedingly to join in that conspiracy,
which he had firmly declined. I asked him if Mr. King had
ever spoken to him of the separation project of 1803-4 after the
cession of Louisiana.
He said. No.
I called at the President's, to enquire if he had decided upon
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488 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [February,
the applicatioi^s of Mr. Evans and Mr. Bolton. He said the
Secretary of the Navy would give Mr. Evans a letter to Com-
modore Rodgers, who would give him a passage in the ship,
and he desired me to examine further into the papers of Mr.
Bolton. He then told me that he had determined not to make
the nominations, excepting only the transfer of J. A. Smith and
J. J. Appleton from and to London and Madrid. He should
leave the rest to his successor. He desired me to mention to
Mr. Everett the high opinion that he entertained of his conduct
and services, but gave me to understand that he should not
nominate him, as he had intended. He desired me not even
to mention to Everett that he had intended to nominate him.
This change in the President's determination, from that of
making the nominations before the election in the House to
that of not making them at all, would have surprised me if I
had not known that Mr. Ingham, member from Pennsylvania,
had been with the President this morning. The servant who
mentioned it said that Mr. Ingham came often, and always
stayed long. Ingham is Chairman of the committee to whom
the message relating to the President's accounts is referreB.
This is perhaps the occasion of his long visits, and gives him
opportunities to avail himself of them for other objects. I made
no remark upon the President's present determination, prefer-
ring first to reflect upon it.
Watkins showed me a letter he had this morning received
from J. McLean, the Postmaster-General, cautioning him
against suffering anything to appear in the National Journal
favorable to Mr. Crawford. Watkins said he did not under-
stand it ; nor was it altogether intelligible to me.
2d. Morning visits from Daniel Kidder, Stephen Longfel-
low, Enoch Lincoln, and Joshua Cushman, all members of the
House of Representatives from Maine. They had a circular
letter from the Governor of that State, and several resolutions
of the Legislature, concerning encroachments by the British
from New Brunswick upon the territory in dispute between
the two countries, and depredations upon the timber. These
members came to advise with me what was to be done.
I advised them to address a joint letter to the President,
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requesting him to take such measures as were within the com-
petency of the Executive of the United States to arrest this
mischief. I thought he would direct me to write to the British
Charge d'Affaires here, requesting him to interpose with the
Government of New Brunswick, and also to instruct Mr. Rush
to address a remonstrance on the subject.
They appeared disposed to take this course. They enquired
the state of the negotiation with Great Britain concerning the
boundary.
I informed them that it was suspended, to be resumed, and
that all the documents concerning it had been communicated
confidentially to the Senate, and were thus in possession of the
two Senators from the State.
Joel R. Poinsett brought and read to me a draft of several
resolutions which he intends to propose to the House, as an
individual member, relating to the Cuba piracies. They were
to call energetically upon the Governor of Cuba to suppress
the Society of the Mussulmanlis — a notorious piratical asso-
ciation, including, as Poinsett says, not less than a hundred
thousand persons. He wishes to have these resolutions adopted
and sent by the North Carolina to the Government of Cuba.
He said he had no expectation that anything would be done
by the Committee of Foreign Relations; no two members
agreed in opinion upon any of the measures heretofore pro-
posed.
I saw no objection to his resolutions.
Mr. Luckett introduced a Mr. Felix Houston, of Kentucky,
who has the project of joining the Greek cause, and came for
advice and a passport. I knew not what to advise without
impairing my official neutrality; but referred him to persons
better informed, and promised him a passport.
H. W. Dwight, G. Tomlinson, and W. C. Bradley were here
successively, all intensely occupied with the approaching elec-
tion, and all sanguine of an issue which will disappoint them.
To me the alternatives are both distressing in prospect, and the
most formidable is that of success. All the danger is on the
pinnacle. The humiliation of failure will be so much more
than compensated by the safety in which it will leave me, that
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490 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [February,
I ought to regard it as a consummation devoutly to be wished,
and hope to find consolation in it.
Dwight spoke principally about Louis McLane, who has
talked with him much as he has with others, declaring his
fixed determination never to vote for General Jackson, but
giving no expectation that he will, in any event, vote for me.
We were interrupted, and Dwight said he would soon see
me again. Tomlinson and Bradley were both concerned about
the vote of Connecticut. H. W. Edwards, Senator from that
State, is devoted to Calhoun, and, through him, to Jackson.
The members from the State in the House are six, and were
originally, two for Crawford, Barber and Stoddard ; two for
Calhoun, Whitman and Sterling ; and two for me, Tomlinson
and Foote. Lanman, the other Senator, was for Crawford.
The great majority of the people for me in the State, and the
hopeless prospect of Mr. Crawford, had induced Barber and
Stoddard to determine and avow that they should vote for me.
In this state of things, Edwards, the friend of Calhoun, has
been stimulating Barber and Stoddard to vote still for Craw-
ford, so that the vote of the State may be divided and not
count for me, and they have greatly been shaken by this pro-
cess of Edwards. Bradley thinks Calhoun a complete master-
piece of duplicity, and not much better of Southard, as a sub-
altern under his direction. He told me of letters from Calhoun
to C. P. Van Ness, and to others, when a Judge of the Supreme
Court was to be appointed, and a Secretary of the Navy, and
said there were so many things of the same stamp known to
so many persons, that Calhoun's character was now pretty well
understood.
I called at the President's with dispatches from H. Allen, in
Chili, and from R. Rush, at London. The last answers to
letters from me of 27th November last — the sixty-eighth day.
Referring to the conversation that I had with the President
yesterday, I asked if I had understood him correctly that he
had determined not to make the nominations to the vacant
offices at all.
He said I had.
I said I had understood the alternative was, that he should
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make them before or after the election. So far as I was per-
sonally concerned, I should prefer that even now he would
make the nominations before the election, rather than that he
should omit to make them altogether. I had wished him to
determine upon his choice now, without making it known, but
not leave the nominations as prizes to be held out by, or to,
any one to purchase votes. Among the candidates whom he
had mentioned to me were two members of Congress, one
holding, the other supposed to influence, votes. It would be
difficult for the successor to nominate either of them, especially
if the votes in question should be for him. The nominations
belonged properly to his Administration, and my wish was that
it should be really his Administration to the last moment of its
existence. If the election should fall upon me, I should there-
fore entreat of him, as a favor, that he would make the nomi-
nations as his own, and as he would have made them at any
other period of his Administration. If, as was more probable,
General Jackson should be chosen, I should of course have
nothing further to say ; but, having no suspicion that he would
anticipate his power of nomination by pledges, I presumed he
would equally acquiesce in Mr. Monroe's making the nomi-
nations.
He said he would take this matter into full consideration, but
he had already informed Mr. Elliott, of Georgia, that he should
not make the nominations before the election, and he could not
now change that determination without fluctuation of counsels.
Thus it now rests.
3d. The flood of visitors is unceasing. Mr. Webster called and
spent the evening with me. The excitement of electioneering
is kindling into fury. George Kremer's "Another Card," in
answer to that of H. Clay on Monday, appeared in the Intel-
ligencer this morning. Mr. Clay called upon the House to
institute an investigation. Kremer did the same, and a debate
ensued upon it in the House, which is postponed till to-morrow.
In the Senate, a debate on the Piracy bill drew forth again
Mr. L. W. Tazewell, Mills, James Barbour, and James Lloyd.
I wrote this morning a short letter to the President, with a view
to record my advice to him respecting the nominations. I
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492 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [February,
mentioned this intention to G. Sullivan, who first proposed to
me to be the bearer of my letter, and then dissuaded me from
writing altogether. He wrote me even a note to that effect.
Hammond is here for electioneering purposes. Dr. Thornton
brought me another letter from himself, of complaint and
solicitation. Mr. Fiirst came, to ask employment to work
upon a Medallic History of the United States, for which I told
him there must first be an Act of Congress. Jennings and
Test applied in behalf of Harvey Gregg, for the appointment of
Consul at Acapulco. Hogeboom, for the release of a prisoner
from confinement, for which he gave me the President's order.
Bibb spoke to me about Mr. Crawford's health, and said one of
Mr. Crawford's ardent friends had told him in Kentucky that
he believed it to be irrecoverable. General Brown had been
in the House of Representatives, and had heard McDuffie's
speeches. He has lost his faith in Calhoun's sincerity, and
still has hopes of De Witt Clinton. English came for his last
instructions, which are not ready. Reed came, to tell me that
Webster would call upon me this evening. Southard called for
the papers of Kirkpatrick's complaint against Bennett, whom
he wishes to be suspended or dismissed, and Ray to be ap-
pointed in his place. Southard told me he would call upon
me this evening, if he could ; but he did not.
Webster's talk was about the election. He read to me a
letter from Warfield, of Maryland, to him, concerning the elec-
tion, and asking advice of him with regard to his vote ; and
the draft of an answer which he had prepared ; and said he
would send it or not, as I should think proper. He said that J.
Lee, also of Maryland, had consulted him too, and was under
impressions similar to those of Warfield. Their concern was
\lest, in the event of my election, the federalists should be
* treated as a proscribed party. Webster's answer to Warfield
expressed entire confidence that I should be governed by no
such considerations, and said that he should show this confi-
dence by his vote. It intimated a hope that the object of the
Administration would be to promote harmony among the peo-
ple, and that the disposition would be marked by conferring
some one prominent appointment upon a person of that party.
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iSasO THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 493
I observed that if that referred to the formation of an Ad-
ministration, it would imply more than I could confirm.
He said it did not — but to an appointment perhaps of a
Judge.
I said I approved altogether of the general spirit of his an-
swer, and should consider it as one of the objects nearest to
my heart to bring the whole people of the Union to harmonize
together. I must, however, candidly tell him that I believed
either General Jackson or Mr. Crawford would pursue precisely
the same principle, and that no Administration could possibly
succeed upon any other.
He said that General Van Rensselaer entertained similar
sentiments to his own, and by his advice would call on me at
eleven o'clock to-morrow morning.
4th. Samuel Lathrop, member from Massachusetts, came to
enquire into the state of the negotiation with Great Britain
concerning the Northeastern boundary. I told him of the con-
versations with me of several members of the delegation from
Maine, and of the proceedings of the Legislature of that State
on the subject, and observed that it might perhaps be proper
for the delegation from Massachusetts to concur with that of
Maine in their application to the President.
General Stephen Van Rensselaer came at eleven o'clock, and
spoke to me much in the same manner as Webster had done.
I answered him in the same manner, and, as he said, entirely to
his satisfaction. He spoke of Mr. Van Buren, with whom he
lodges, somewhat doubtfully — and also of L. McLane. He
says they have not yet abandoned all hope of the success of
Mr. Crawford ; that A. Dickins is the messenger between them;
that Mr. Crawford will not release them from the obligation of
voting for him, though he thinks some of the caucus men will
vote for me at once. He mentioned to me Solomon Van
Rensselaer, of Albany, as a very ardent supporter of mine; and
I told him I thought Mr. Van Buren had been wrong in the
measures he took to prevent his appointment as Postmaster at
Albany. I said Mr. Van Buren was a man of great talents
and of good principles, but he had suffered them to be too
much warped by party spirit. At other times he had followed
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494 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Febnitiy,
a more generous and wiser policy, and I hoped he would ulti-
mately return to it.
As I was going to my office I met George Hay, who went
to it with me, and asked me whether I thought this explosion
between Clay and Kremer would affect the election. He pre-
mised that it was perhaps an improper question — in which
case I should not answer it. I said I did not know whether it
would have any effect, nor, if any, what it would be. I did not
know upon what facts Mr. Kremer*s charges were founded.
Hay said upon nothing but the inferences of his own muddy
and contracted mind. He then added that he was not sorry
for Clay, whom he had always considered as a mere political
adventurer, and who had persecuted Mr. Monroe with the most
virulent rancor. He did not prolong this conversation, which
partook much of Mr. Hay's character. He is a warm partisan
of Jackson, but wishes and supposes me to believe that he is
an ardent friend of mine.
I went to the President's, with a list of nominations to be
sent into the Senate next Monday. Among them was that of
George Izard, as Governor of the Arkansas Territory. I told
him that this was not one of the offices the nomination to which
I had advised him to postpone.
He said he had so understood me ; that General Izard was
a federalist, and he wished on his own retirement to give some
token of his disposition to conciliate that class of our citizens.
He regretted that it had not been in his power to show the
same disposition more frequently in his appointments. He
had gone as far as was possible without forfeiting the confi-
dence of his own supporters and thereby defeating the very
object that he had at heart.
I delivered to the President the letter I had written him
yesterday upon the subject of the nominations to the foreign
missions, and told him that I wished to put it as a deposit in
his hands, for a testimonial that I had not used those missions
to promote any purpose of my own.
He took the paper, and said he would not communicate it to
any one ; that he was aware of the extreme circumspection
with which it was necessary for me at this moment to act;
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that his own situation was also one of great difficulty; that his
impression at the beginning of the present session of Congress
had been to leave these appointments to be made by his suc-
cessor, whose confidential officers the persons receiving them
would be. He had been afterwards urged to make the nomi-
nations, but had yielded to the consideration presented by
me, in which he had thought there was great weight, that
these nominations could scarcely have been made at this crisis
without having some improper effect on the pending election.
But, in determining upon the postponement, he had thought
best to put it on the other ground, of leaving the appointments
to his successor, because that, operating equally upon both,
could not be attributed to the influence of either. He said he
had no doubt of my kind and friendly disposition to himself,
and not the most distant suspicion that I had used, or would
use, those appointments for any electioneering purpose.
In the evening I went to the theatre, and saw three acts of
"The School for Scandal" — Cooper as Charles Surface, Mr.
and Mrs. Barnes as Sir Peter and Lady Teazle. With Mrs.
Adams, I then went to an evening party at Dr. Cassin's, and
afterwards to another at Mr. McLean's, the Postmaster-Gen-
eral's, at Georgetown. Here there was much talk of the pro-
ceedings in the House this day on the demand of H. Clay and
G. Kremer for a committee of investigation. A vote of more
than two to one for the appointment to-morrow of a committee
of seven by ballot. There was an effort afterwards made to
effect an accommodation, which failed. T. J. Rogers, formerly
a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, now here, was at
McLean's, and spoke to me with great uneasiness of this affair,
assuring me that whatever the issue of the election might be,
Pennsylvania would cheerfully acquiesce in it. I asked D. P.
Cook to call on me to-morrow morning — which he promised.
5th. D. P. Cook called this morning, as he had promised.
I reminded him of what he had told me of Ingham's conversa-
tions with him respecting the Government of Arkansas, and of
McDuffie's talk with him in Ingham's chamber; and I asked
him to put in writing the substance of all those conversations.
I said I did not ask him to do this for me, but for himself. I
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496 AfEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Fcbrnaiy,
told him that all this would be history hereafter, and that those
conversations would be an important part of history. He said
he regretted not having written them down at the time. I said
it would- have been better then, but, tlie time being still very
recent, little would now be lost of the substance, and the longer
it should be delayed, the less full and correct would the state-
ment be.
He said he would write it. The substance was, that Ingham,
knowing Cook to be a candidate for the appointment of Gov-
ernor of Arkansas, urged him to declare openly that he would
vote for Jackson, and intimated that he should then have the
appointment. Cook says he offended Ingham by his answer
to this proffer, and Ingham has said nothing of it since.
McDuffie's argument was to the same purpose ; that General
Jackson's election would depend upon his (Cook's) vote ; that
there was a moral obligation to vote for Jackson, who had the
greatest number of electoral votes; that if I should be elected,
it would only be by Clay's corrupt coalition with me, and that
the people would be so disgusted with this that there would
be a systematic and determined opposition from the beginning,
so that the Administration could not get along. It would be
overthrown, and he would be involved in its ruin.
Cook says that T. J. Rogers, last evening, after the party
at McLean's, came to Cook's lodgings, and declared that if I
should be elected, Pennsylvania would cordially support my
Administration; that he could answer for three presses himself,
and that before he left Harrisburg, Mowry, the State printer
there, told him it was nearly certain I should be elected, and
he was d glad of it. Cook says, too, that last night when
Ingham came home after the failure of the attempt to effect an
accommodation of the affair between Clay and Kremer, he said
the sword was drawn and the scabbard thrown away.
Tracy and Crowninshield were here this morning, and gave
accounts of the attempt at accommodation. An apology was
drawn up disclaiming any intention of imputing corruption to
Clay, and declaring that he knew no fact ascertaining that any
bargain had been made, which Kremer professed himself ready
to sign, and which Clay declared would be satisfactory to him.
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But Kremer, after consulting the Pennsylvania delegation, or
that part of them by which he is moved, declined signing the
paper. Kremer is said to be an intemperate man, and to have
acknowledged that he scarcely knew whether he had written
the letter or not.
At half-past eleven I attended at the Capitol the meeting of
the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to. make their annual
report. Mr. Gaillard, the President of the Senate pro tempore,
and Mr. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, were present;
the Chief-Justice and Attorney-General absent. Mr. Crawford
received a note from Mr. Wirt, saying that he was confined to
the house by Indisposition. The report of the Secretary of the
Treasury to the Board was read by me, at Mr. Crawford's re-
quest. The report of the Board to the two Houses of Con-
gress was also read, and then signed in triplicates. A slight
error was detected in the report of the Board, and corrected.
The accompanying documents were read, with the exception
of part of one of them — a list of payments by certain banks,
which was long, and, Mr. Crawford said, had been fully exam-
ined at the Treasury. The finances of the country are in a
very flourishing condition. On signing the papers, Mr. Craw-
ford observed that he had yet so much rheumatism in the hand
that he wrote with difficulty. He had asked me to read the
papers and Mr. Wirt's note, as he could not easily read himself.
His speech is more, distinct in articulation than it was. The
business of the Board occupied about an hour.
I then went into the Senate-chamber; it being Saturday,
the Senate were not in session. The House of Representatives
were engaged in balloting for a committee of seven upon the
appeal of the Speaker in his collision with George Kremer. I
have always, on this annual day for making the report of the
Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, passed two or three hours
afterwards in the House, witnessing their debates. From mo-
tives of delicacy, I abstained this day from going in.
I received a note from H. R. Warfield, M. H. R. from Mary-
land, dated yesterday, and asking me to appoint a time when I
could see him this day ; but it was too late.
6th. After the service I called to visit Mr. Webster. I asked
VOL. VI. — 32
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498 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [February,
him to let Mr. Warfield know that I would be glad to see him
at any time to-morrow morning before noon, at my house.
On returning home, I found a dispatch from R. Rush of 31st
December last, mentioning an interview which he had that
day had with G. Canning, the British Secretary of Foreign
Affairs, who informed him confidentially that the British Gov-
ernment had determined immediately to recognize the inde-
pendence of Mexico, Colombia, and Buenos Ayres. I called
at once on Mr. Salazar, the Colombian Minister, and read the
dispatch to him ; then took it to the President, with whom I
found James Barbour, S. U. S. from Virginia, and G. Hay. Mr.
Hay withdrew, and I read the dispatch. Governor Barbour
remarked that this was precisely the result that 1 had antici-
pated from the conclusion of a treaty of commerce by our
Minister, R. C. Anderson, at Bogota.
I then called and visited General La Fayette, to whom I
communicated the information contained in Mr. Rush's dis-
patch. I enquired at Gadsby*s for General Jackson, but he
was at dinner. Returning, I met Mr. Obregon, the Mexican
Minister, and informed him of the news from Mr. Rush.
A. H. Tfacy spent the evening here, and T. Fuller about an
hour of it. General Brown called twice at my house while I
was out, and said he would come again about sunset, but did
not. Tracy spoke of a singular change in the mind of J. J.
Morgan, now a confirmed vote for Jackson. He is very appre-
hensive that Virginia will be lost, of which I have scarce a
doubt. He is, however, now confident of New York, which
I am not. Fuller is more sanguine. These fluctuations will
soon be over. La Fayette showed me a letter to him, signed
** Eleutheros," which, he told me, was from the French Consul
at Edinburgh — very friendly to him and earnest for the Greeks.
La Fayette himself is also ardent in their cause.
7th. The city swarms with strangers, and the succession of
visitors this morning was so numerous that the names of
several of them escaped my recollection. General Brown told
me he had yesterday morning had a long conversation with
the President, and had distinctly told him his impressions of
the present and recent conduct of Calhoun. He said the
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President had heard it with surprise. Brown himself is deeply
affected by it. At the office, he showed me a letter from Am-
brose Spencer, at Albany, whose election to the Senate hitches
between the two Houses of the Legislature. He was nomi-
nated without formal opposition by the House of Assembly,
having, however, only seventy-seven votes. In the Senate he
had from ten to twelve votes, with at least twenty against him.
These so scattered their votes that no nomination was made
by the Senate, and they could not go into joint ballot. The
day passed without completing the election, and now they
must pass a law to fix another day for the choice. Spencer
writes Brown that my friends in the Senate concurred in this
postponement, from an opinion that he was hostile to me,
which he solemnly protests he is not. His professions have
been constantly friendly; his manifestations of inclinations,
and his actions, so far as he has acted, constantly adverse.
This species of duplicity pervades the conduct of so many
public men in this country that it is scarcely possible to know
upon whom any reliance can be placed.
Edwards came, to enquire about the nominations to foreign
missions, and to urge the interest of Mr. Miller, of North
Carolina, who is recommended for that to Guatemala. I told
him how the matter stood, and the doubt whether the nomina-
tions would be made by Mr. Monroe at all. And when he
should finally determine whether he would or would not make
them, I promised to give Edwards seasonable notice of his
determination.
Mr. Warfield came, upon the notice given him, as I had yes-
terday requested, by Mr. Webster. He said that he had not
expressed his determination for whom he should vote in the
House on Wednesday. His friends, Mr. Charles Carroll, of
Carrollton, and Mr. Taney, of Baltimore, had urged him to
vote for General Jackson, under an impression that if I should
be elected, the Administration would be conducted on the
principle of proscribing the federal party.
I said I regretted much that Mr. Carroll, for whose character
I entertained a profound veneration, and Mr. Taney, of whose
talents I had heard high encomium, should harbor such opinions
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500 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [February,
of me. I could assure him that I never would be at the head
of any Administration of proscription to any party — political
or geographical. I had differed from the federal party on
many important occasions, but I had always done justice to
the talents and services of the individuals composing it, and
to their merits as members of this Union. I had been dis-
carded by the federal party upon differences of principle, and
I had not separated from one party to make myself the slave
of another. I referred, in proof of my adherence to principle
against party, to various acts of my public life, and Mr. War-
field declared himself perfectly satisfied with my exposition of
my sentiments.
Mr. Vinton applied for collections of the public Congres-
sional documents for the University in the State of Ohio. Mr.
Addington came to enquire whether I had received official
accounts of the intention of the British Government to acknowl-
edge the independence of the South American republics. I
mentioned to him the purport of the dispatch received yes-
terday from R. Rush — with which he appeared to be highly
satisfied. I told him also that Mr. Fitzgerald had declined
accepting the mission to this country — of which he had not
been before informed.
Baron Tuyl brought me an extract from a dispatch received
by him, concerning discriminating tonnage duties in Russia.
It was not known to him, and we had much conversation con-
cerning it. He had also a circular from Count Nesselrode.
written -in August last, relating to a new levy of men at that
time to recruit the Russian army. The Baron will write to me
upon the tonnage duty.
I sent to the President a draft of instructions to Commodore
Rodgers. In the evening I attended the theatre with my
family. Cooper's benefit — " Damon and Pythias** and " Kath-
erine and Petruchio.*' The house was more crowded than I
ever witnessed it The President, General La Fayette, General
Jackson, Mr. Crawford, and perhaps a hundred members of Con-
gress, were there. The performances were good, but Cooper
is getting into the decline of age. Between the tragedy and
farce he recited "Alexander's Feast'* — well.
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18250 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. jqi
8th. Bradley, Seymour, and Fuller came to give me ad-
vices respecting the prospects of election, but, from continual
interruptions, could not freely converse with me. Force told
me several incidents which occurred yesterday, indicating the
approximation to the inevitable coalition between the Calhoun,
Jackson, and Crawford forces. Wingate had a letter from Asa
Clapp, of Portland, a sufferer by French spoliations — one of
the Antwerp cases — urging that our Government should admit
the French pretension to indemnity upon the eighth article of
the Louisiana Convention, as a negotiation in offset to the
claims of our citizens. General Wingate urged also the inves-
tigation of the charges against Mark Langdon Hill, Collector
of Bath. Patterson and Randall wanted documents, of those
deposited by the Commissioners under the Florida Treaty. I
took to the President's the letter I had prepared to Commodore
Rodgers, with an addition suggested by the President himself,
and which he approved. This evening, Mrs. Adams's Tuesday
party was more fully attended than ever before. There were
sixteen Senators, sixty-seven members of the House, and at
least four hundred citizens and strangers.
9th. May the blessing of God rest upon the event of this
day ! — ^the second Wednesday in February, when the election
of a President of the United States for the term of four years,
from the 4th of March next, was consummated. Of the votes
in the electoral colleges, there were ninety-nine for Andrew
Jackson, of Tennessee ; eighty-four for John Quincy Adams,
of Massachusetts; forty-one for William Harris Crawford, of
Georgia ; and thirty-seven for Henry Clay, of Kentucky : in
all, two hundred and sixty-one. This result having been an-
nounced, on opening and counting the votes in joint meeting
of the two Houses, the House of Representatives immediately
proceeded to the vote by ballot from the three highest candi-
dates, when John Quincy Adams received the votes of thirteen,
Andrew Jackson of seven, and William H. Crawford of four
States. The election was thus completed, very unexpectedly,
by a single ballot. Alexander H. Everett gave me the first
notice, both of the issue of the votes of the electoral colleges
as announced in the joint meeting, and of the final vote as
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502 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [February,
declared. Wyer followed him a few minutes afterwards. Mr.
Bolton and Mr. Thomas, the Naval Architect, succeeded; and
B. W. Crowninshield, calling, on his return from the House to
his lodgings, at my house, confirmed the report Congratula-
tions from several of the officers of the Department of State
ensued — from D. Brent, G. Ironside, W. Slade, and Josias W.
King. Those of my wife, children, and family were cordial
and affecting, and I received an affectionate note from Mr.
Rufus King, of New York, written in the Senate-chamber after
the event.
On my return home, James Strong, member from New York,
came with some solicitude of enquiry concerning the obstacles
to the election of Ambrose Sf)encer as Senator from that State
in the place of Mr. King. He asked if my friends considered
Spencer as hostile to me.
I said I believed they had considered him as favoring the
election of General Jackson.
He asked if I did not consider Spencer pledged at least, if
elected, not to come with purposes of hostility to the Admin-
istration.
I said I did not.
He said Spencer was an honest man, and if he gave such a
pledge would be faithful to it.
After dinner, the Russian Minister, Baron Tuyl, called to
congratulate me upon the issue of the election. I attended,
with Mrs. Adams, the drawing-room at the President's. It was
crowded to overflowing. General Jackson was there, and we
shook hands. He was altogether placid and courteous. I re-
ceived numerous friendly salutations, D. Webster asked me
when I could receive the committee of the House to announce to
me my election. I appointed to-morrow noon, at my own house.
The committee consists of Webster, Vance, of Ohio, and Archer,
of Virginia. I asked S. L. Southard, the Secretary of the Navy,
to call on me to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. Mr. Daniel
Brent had called on me this morning, and said that Mr. John
Lee, member from Maryland, had told him that he should at
the first ballot be obliged to vote for Jackson, but if the elec-
tion should not be completed this day he would come and see
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1825.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 503
me to-morrow morning. He was disposed to give me his vote,
but wished some explanation from me of certain passages of
my oration delivered on the 4th of July, 182 1, which had been
offensive to the Roman Catholics. I said I would very readily
see and converse on this subject with Mr. Lee, regretting that
anything I had ever said in public should have hurt the re-
ligious feelings of any person. Dr. Watkins came likewise,
and expressed much confidence in the issue that took place,
but urging me, if it should be otherwise, and I should attend
the drawing-room this evening, to carry a firm and confident
countenance with me, and remarking that a bold outside was
often a herald to success. There was, fortunately, no occasion
for this little artifice. I enclosed Mr. R. King*s note, with a
letter of three lines, to my father, asking for his blessing and
prayers on the event of this day, the most important day of
my life, and which I would close as it began, with suppli-
cations to the Father of mercies that its consequences may
redound to His glory and to the welfare of my country. After
I returned from the drawing-room, a band of musicians came
and serenaded me at my house. It was past midnight when I
retired.
Although the brief notes which follow, relative to this event,
have already found a place elsewhere, their presence in this
immediate connection seems almost indispensable to the com-
pleteness of the picture.
It is much to be regretted that no adequate notice has yet
been taken of the eminent services of Rufus King; nor have
any of the valuable papers which he must have left behind him
seen the light. Few public men have served so long or acted
in more responsible positions. His relations with both the
Adamses had been sometimes intimate, and always friendly:
hence it was natural that he should feel a strong interest in the
issue of the present struggle. No sooner was it absolutely
decided and the news had passed from the House of Repre-
sentatives to the Senate-chamber, than he at once indited
and sent to Mr. Adams by a special messenger the following
note:
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504 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Febratiy,
RuFus King to John Quincy Adams.
Senate-Chamber, 9th February, 1825.
My dear Sir : —
We have this moment heard the issue of the election, and I
send you and your venerable father my affectionate congratu-
lations upon your choice as President of the United States on
the first ballot of the House of Representatives. I include
your father, as I consider your election as the best amends
for the injustice of which he was made the victim.
To me and mine, the choice has been such as we have cor-
dially hoped and expected.
RuFus King.
The recipient of this note in his turn sent it immediately by
post to his father at Quincy, with the following accompani-
ment:
John Quincy Adams to John Adams.
Washington, 9th February, 1825.
My dear and honored Father: —
The enclosed note from Mr. King will inform you of the
event of this day, upon which I can only offer you my con-
gratulations and ask your blessings and prayers.
Your affectionate and dutiful son,
John Quincy Adams.
John Adams was at this time quite infirm in body, yet he
did not fail to respond to the felicitations of his son :
John Adams to John Quincy Adams.
Quincy, i8th February, 1825.
I have received your letter of the 9th. Never did I feel so
much solemnity as upon this occasion. The multitude of my
thoughts and the intensity of my feelings are too much for a
mind like mine, in its ninetieth year. May the blessing of
God Almighty continue to protect you to the end of your life,
as it has heretofore protected you in so remarkable a manner
from your cradle! I offer the same prayer for your lady and
your family — and am
Your affectionate father,
John Adams.
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1825.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 505
This may fairly be classed among the rare dramatic events
of history. •
lOth. Mr. Southard called, as I had requested, at ten. I in-
vited him to remain at the head of the Navy Department ; to
which he consented. I told him that I should offer the De-
partment of State to Mr. Clay, and should invite Mr. Crawford
to remain in the Department of the Treasury. I read to him
the answer which I had written for the notification which I
expected. He suggested a very judicious objection to one
passage of it, which I altered.
At noon, Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, Joseph Vance,
of Ohio, and William S. Archer, of Virginia, came as a com-
mittee of the House of Representatives and announced to me
that in the recent election of a President of the United States,
no person having received a majority of all the votes of the
electors appointed, and the choice having consequently de-
volved upon the House of Representatives, that House, pro-
ceeding in the manner prescribed in the Constitution, did yes-
terday choose me to be President of the United States for four
years, commencing on the 4th day of March next.
I observed to the committee that the only preceding occa-
sion since the establishment of the Constitution of the United
States upon which a similar notification had been made from
the House of Representatives was at the election of Mr. Jeffer-
son, who had returned to the committee a written answer. I
had thought it would be proper to follow this example, and I
read, and delivered to Mr. Webster, the answer that I had
prepared.
The committee informed me. that they had already notified
the President of this election.
The committee reported my answer to the House, where it
was read. Mr. George Hay had mentioned to me last evening
that he had a communication to make to me from a person
of consideration in the State of Pennsylvania. He came this
morning, and told me it was Mr. T. J. Rogers, who had assured
him that if my Administration should be conducted upon sound
principles he would support it, and he had no doubt the State
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506 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [February.
of Pennsylvania would do the same. Mr. Appleton arrived this
morning, with ^dispatches from Mr. Nelson, at Madrid. Mr.
Addington came, to enquire of the prospects respecting the
Convention for the suppression of the slave-trade.
This evening I wrote to Mr. Crawford, inviting him to remain
at the head of the Treasury. Attended, with Mrs. Adams, the
military ball at Carusi*s Rooms. The President, General La
Fayette, and Mr. Calhoun were there.
I ith. Visitors. S. L. Southard. Arthur Livermore, member
from New Hampshire, anxious that Mr. Crawford should have
the offer of remaining in the Treasury. Lowrie had mentioned
it to him. H. Niles, of Baltimore ; Joseph Wheaton ; P. Force;
D. P. Cook; G. Sullivan, a conversation with whom, yester-
day, had been interrupted, and was now resumed. He said
he would tell me what the Calhounites said : that if Mr. Clay
should be appointed Secretary of State, a determined oppo-
sition to the Administration would be organized from the out-
set ; that the opposition would use the name of General Jackson
as its head; that the Administration would be supported only by
the New England States — New York being doubtful, the West
much divided, and strongly favoring Jackson, as a Western
man, Virginia already in opposition, and all the South decidedly
adverse. The Calhounites had also told him what Administra-
tion would satisfy them : namely, Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of
State,i^ngdon Cheves, Secretary of the Treasury, John McLean,
now Postmaster-General, Secretary of War, and Southard, of
the Navy.
I asked Sullivan with whom he had held these conversations.
He said, with Calhoun himself, and with Poinsett. I told Sulli-
van that I would some day call on him to testify to these facts
in a Court of justice. He said, surely not. I insisted that I
would, and told him that he would find it necessary under this
threatened opposition of Mr. Calhoun, between him and me;
that I had no doubt Mr. Calhoun, in holding this language to
him, intended it should come to me, and that its object was to
intimidate me, and deter me from the nomination of Mr. Clay ;
that I had heard the same intimations from him through other
channels ; and, in all probability, at some future day some oc-
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i82S.] THE DEPARTAfENT OF STATE. 507
casion would arise of necessity for proving the facts judicially,
in which case I should certainly call upon him.
He said he should certainly then refuse to answer.
I said his refusal to answer would be as good for me as the
answer itself
He then said surely I would not call upon him to betray a
private and confidential conversation, which he had only told
me to make me acquainted with all that he knew interesting to
me at the moment ; that in telling it he had already violated
the confidence of Mr. Calhoun, who, far from intending that it
should be reported to me, had strictly enjoined it upon him to
say nothing of it to any one.
I said this altered the case, and he might consider my de-
' clared intention of calling on him to testify publicly to these
facts as withdrawn. I nevertheless believed Mr. Calhoun had
intended he should report to me his threats of opposition in
the event of Mr. Clay's appointment, and believed that if he
would ask Calhoun's permission to communicate the substance
of it to me, he would give it.
This conversation, connected with Ingham's and McDuffie's
electioneering siege upon D. P. Cook, Richard M. Johnson's
disclosures to me at the drawing-room, and Benton's screw
• upon Scott, with Poinsett's recommendation to the President of
Benton as Minister to Mexico, unfolds the system of opposi-
tion as formed by Mr. Calhoun.
It is to bring in Greneral Jackson as the next President,
under the auspices of Calhoun. To this end the Administra-
tion must be rendered unpopular and odious, whatever its acts
and measures may be, and Mr. Calhoun avows himself prepared
to perform this part. I am at least forewarned. It is not in
man that walketh to direct his steps.
Joseph Anderson, First Comptroller of the Treasury, Richard
Harrison, First Auditor, and Joseph Nourse, the Registrar,
came together, and congratulated me upon my election. Messrs.
Emmet, D. B. Ogden, and Hamilton, from New York, coun-
sellors in attendance upon the Supreme Court, now in session,
were here ; also Mr. Fitzhugh, of Virginia, and Major Vande-
venter. Chief Clerk of the Department of War.
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5o8 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [February,
I was at the President's, and again repeated the request that
he would make the nominations which had been postponed till
after the election. He said he would take it into consideration.
I told the President I had invited Mr. Crawford to remain at
the head of the Treasury Department, and showed him the
letter I had received from him this morning, in very friendly
terms declining the offer. I then said that I should offer the
Department of State to Mr. Clay, considering it due to his
talents and services, to the Western section of the Union,
whence he comes, and to the confidence in me manifested by
their delegations ; that for the Treasury and War Departments
I should be glad to take his advice, and to consult him with
reference to other objects of public interest, if it would be
agreeable to him.
He said he would readily give me his opinions upon any
subject I should desire; that upon his own election he had
consulted his predecessor, Mr. Madison; he had then been
very earnestly pressed with regard to the formation of his Ad-
ministration, and by no one with more importunity than by
Jonathan Russell; that he had named to Mr. Madison the
persons whom he proposed to nominate, and Mr. Madison had
fully approved them. I understood him as wishing that I
would pursue the same course.
1 2th. Mr. Rufus King, Senator from New York, came, and
spent part of the evening with me. Most of the visitors came
to congratulate me on the event of the election. Several of
them, particularly of the members of Congress, conversed with
me upon the prospects of public affairs and the formation of
an Administration. I had received yesterday a note from H.
Clay requesting an interview, for which I appointed half-past
six in the evening. He then came, and we had a conversation
of about an hour. I then offered him the nomination to the
Department of State.
He said he would take it into consideration, and answer me
as soon as he should have time to consult his friends.
I desired him to take his own time ; but he promised if any-
thing should occur requiring that he should hasten his answer,
he would, upon my giving him notice of it, answer imme-
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182$.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 509
diately. He made light of the threatened opposition, and
thought all the projects of that nature which have been an-
nounced were mere ebullitions of disappointment at the issue
of the election, which would soon be abandoned. He said
that as to his affair with Kremer, if Kremer had gone before
the committee, he (Clay) could have proved something very
much like a conspiracy against himself He would have
proved that Kremer had disclaimed in the most explicit terms
to several persons his having intended any imputation against
Clay, and declared his readiness to sign a paper to that effect,
from which he had been dissuaded by Ingham, Buchanan, and
McDuffie.
General Brown en'lered this morning into an argument to
convince me that it would not be expedient that Mr. Clay
should be Secretary of State. He had a high opinion of Mr.
Clay, but if I should offer him the Department he hoped he
would not accept it, and he believed it would be better if I
should not offer it to him. General Brown wished that De
Witt Clinton should be the Secretary of State. I listened to
what he said, and then told him I had already made the offer
to Mr. Clay. Brown's next wish is that Clinton should be
Secretary of the Treasury. The members of Congress all
advise variously for the formation of a Cabinet, and many are
anxious to be treated confidentially.
13th. Mr. Southard, Dr. Everett, Colonel R. M. Johnson,
George Hay, and Tench Ringgold, the Marshal of the District,
were here this morning. Southard came about the suspension
of Bennett as Consul at Pernambuco. He spoke also with some
embarrassment of Mr, Calhoun's present conduct and move-
ments. Dr. Everett had a letter to send to Mr. Nelson, in Spain.
Colonel Johnson assured me of his perfect acquiescence in
the event of the election. He urged me very warmly in behalf
of James Barbour, the Senator from Virginia, for one of the
Departments, preferring him to his brother, Philip P., who, he
thought, would not accept if it should be offered to him.
Mr. Hay's object was to communicate to me the friendly
overture of T. J. Rogers. He had mentioned it once before.
The Marshal came to speak of arrangements to be made for
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jio MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [February,
the 4th of March, which I thought it best to defer for the
present. He said he would attend to them at any time when
I should give him notice.
15th. Visitors. Felix Houston, for a passport and letter to
Mr. Brown, our Minister at Paris, going to join the Greeks.
S. Eddy, member from Rhode Island, would like the Collector's
office at Providence. I told him I should make no change,
unless for misconduct. Dr. Everett, Dr. Stoughton, and L.
Rice, of the Columbia College, to congratulate. H. Seymour
and R. C. Mallary, with information and advice. Joseph Blunt,
just from Philadelphia. G. W. La Fayette, to apologize for not
dining with us this day — having just heard of the death of his
wife's mother, Madame de Tracy. Governor Duvall introduced
Mr. Bellamy, from Florida.
At the office. Bishop Kemp, with Dr. Hawley. A. H. Tracy
and D. Marvin, to speak of De Witt Clinton. Deep anxiety of
l)is friends that he should come into the Administration. Mis-
sion to G. B. Tracy, to write to him. Durfee introduced Hunter,
son of the former Senator from Rhode Island ; wishes to go as
bearer of dispatches to France. At the President's, Owen of
Lanark there; his philanthropic plans. G. S. Bourne applies
to be private Secretary; declined. We had company to dine —
Beckwith, Denison, Stanley, Wortley, Labouchere,' and twenty
others. Evening party at Salazar's. Ball. Watkins. G. Hay*s
remarks at Southard's this morning. Bitterness against Craw-
ford.
1 6th. Sullivan, much affected at being told by Watkins that
he was considered not my friend, gave me an explanation. His
opposition was to Clay's being Secretary of State. Boyd ; is
about returning to Boston; spoke to me of H. Orne. His
efforts against me, from animosity against the Dearborn and
Wingate families. Frye; spoke of General Jackson; would
take in ill part the offer of the War Department. Seymour;
says the Washington City Gazette has been purchased by the
* Mr. Denison, at a later period Speaker of the House of Commons for many
years, and created Viscount Ossoiy; Mr. Stanley, more widely known as the late
Earl of Derby ; Mr. Wortley, afterwards Lord Wharncliffe, and Mr. Labouchere,
afterwards Lord Taunton, — all of them now deceased.
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i82S.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, jn
opposition from the stump-meeting, at which Mower attended.
Long conversation with Webster. He will serve the next
Congress as a member, and not stand against J. W. Taylor
as Speaker. Will be glad, at a proper time, to go abroad.
23d. S. L. Southard here. Kelly's wish to advise about the
nomination of Clay. A. H. Everett, enquires of my views con-
cerning him. Read my draft of address to him. S. Smith.
Letters to him about Buenos Ayres ; his proposal to amend
the treaty with Colombia. D. Brent. Message and report,
with papers from Addington about the interruption to our
fishermen. S. Bell and W. Plumer, Jr., to recommend J. F.
Parrott for Minister to Mexico. Dr. Sewall, with a recom-
mendation. Met Mower, and then G. Hay, as I was going
to my office. Hay charged by T. M. Randolph with usury.
Letter from my father.* Anonymous letter. Rowlett, about
Tanner's Atlases for our foreign missions. Neal, concerning
evidence for Slave Indemnity Commission. Evening at home,
reading and writing. D. Brent's remarks on my draft of
address.
24th. N. Van Zandt here, with papers relating to J. P. Jones,
received from Mr. Jefferson. W. Plumer. L. McLane, of Dela-
ware, anxious for his father's renomination as Collector of
Wilmington. At the office, Appleton, for settlement of his
accounts. P. Force. Niles's disappointment at losing thfe print-
ing of Congress. L. Anderson, with letter from his brother,
urging for a short leave of absence. McKean, a Clerk in the
Treasury, called with two lists of officers of the Customs and
Land Offices, whose commissions will expire next month. S.
Van Wyck, of Dutchess County, New York, to recommend a
person as Consul at La Rochelle. Spoke of Tallmadge and the
expectations of his friends. P. Farrelly. Showed me letters of
congratulation from Meadville. At the President's; Calhoun
came in. Treaty with Mackintosh for Creek Indians — ceding
all their lands in Georgia for four hundred thousand dollars.
Question of rank between Scott and Gaines. Office, R. W.
Meade. Report to Senate to be made in his case.
25th. Day, much indisposed. Visitors. E. Roberts, with a
« See page 504.
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512 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [Felmiary,
subscription for a Welsh Methodist chapel in the State of New
York. Charles Whitlaw, the man of vapor baths — going to
New York. Joshua Cushman, about M. L. Hill, and to enquire
about a Cabinet. S. F. Vinton, member from Ohio. Daniel P.
Cook, who gave me his statement of a conversation with Ing-
ham, McDuffie, and Isaacs, 2ist January. J. B. Thomas, intro-
duced Kane, the new Senator from Illinois. W. B. Randolph,
Clerk in the Registrar of the Treasury's Office, complained of
not obtaining advancement. Mr. Tileston, who attends the
exhibition of manufactures. Rind, heretofore editor of the
Washington Federalist, for a place. Leland, also for a place.
At the office, a Mr. Denison, from Virginia, a stranger, came
to see me.
At the President's. I read to him my intended address, ex-
cepting'the part relating to his Administration. He said he
had done the same with Mr. Madison. He also said he had
drawn up a paper concerning parties, the views of which ex-
actly corresponded with those of my address. At the office.
Fuller. Opinions concerning Clinton; very unfavorable. Even-
ing at the Capitol. Heard part of Owen of Lanark's lecture
or address.
26th. J. W. Taylor here. Conversation with him concern-
ing himself, not finished. Expectations and pretensions of
Clinton's friends. Philip Thompson and David White, mem-
bers from Kentucky, came and took leave. W. N. Edwards,
to recommend William Miller, of North Carolina, as Charge
d'Affaires to Guatemala. I told Edwards I should nominate
Miller. Ruggles, the disappointed candidate for the Collector-
ship of New Bedford.
Attended at the President's, at the distribution of medals to
the military officers of the late war — Brown ; Scott ; Macomb ;
Harrison, represented by General Jessup ; Gaines, by General
Houston, of Tennessee ; P. B. Porter, by D. Marvin, member
from New York ; and Miller, by Daniel Webster, member from
Boston. The President read addresses to them all, to which
written answers were also read, excepting by General Houston
and Mr. Webster, who answered orally.
G. Hay asked if I would take the President's chariot. I said
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1825.] THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 513
the carriage was an affair for the ladies to decide upon. Gave
Southard a copy of my address.
At the office. Blunt. Le Ray de Chaumont, for the copy
of a document. Mareuil and Tuyl — an appointed meeting.
Etiquette with foreign Ministers; wish to be distinguished
from the crowd ; obstructions to their carriages ; New Year's
day ; inauguration. I told them of the difficulties in making
a change ; the habits and opinions of our people ; European
usages, &c. They intimated the intention of writing to their
Governments about it, perhaps of absenting themselves, and
Mareuil hinted at retaliation upon our Minister in E'urope;
discussion altogether temperate. Tuyl remained. Articles in
National Journal of nth and 12th February. Rumors of war.
Gave him satisfactory explanations. He took leave of me as
Secretary of State — very kindly.
27th. Visits from H. Clay and Joseph Blunt. Clay spoke of
the formation of the Administration, and was confident there
would be no opposition in the Senate to the nomination of him
as Secretary of State, or if there should be, that it could not
obtain at the utmost more than ten votes. He said that the
attempt of Ingham and McDuffie to use Kremer for their pur-
poses would recoil upon themselves ; that overtures had been
made to him from Jackson's, and still more from Crawford's,
friends ; that Elliot, of Georgia, had told him that he should
have the Department of State, or anything that he would ac-
cept, if Mr. Crawford should be elected ; and Mr. Thomas, of
Illinois, offered him even a promise that Crawford would, in
that event, serve only four years. He said that Kremer's paper,
announced in the Washington City Gazette of last night, and
which Gales and Seaton refused to publish, is violent and
furious, with eighteen or twenty certificates, implicating many
individuals ; but that Kremer had offered to sign a paper which
declared that he had never intended to charge upon Clay
anything like corruption ; and the evident object of Kremer's
publication at this time would tend to its own defeat
Blunt spoke of a dinner this day at Williamson's, at which
Jackson, Calhoun, and Cheves were to be present, and said that
Mr. S. L. Gouverneur had just arrived from Albany and New
VOL. VI.— 33
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514 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [February.
York, with stores of opinions against the appointment of Clay
as Secretary of State. Mr. Le Ray de Chaumont and his son
and J, W. Taylor dined with us. Mr. and Mrs. James Lloyd,
J. L. and G. Sullivan, and Mr. Owen of Lanark, spent the even-
ing here. J. W. Taylor remained till near midnight. Long
conversation with him.
28th. Joseph Anderson, Comptroller of the Treasury, with
list of officers of the Customs whose commissions expire in
the month of March, and officers of the Land Office. I told
him I should renominate all against whom there is no com-
plaint." He approves the principle. Spoke favorably of A.
McLane, Collector of Wilmington, Delaware. James Barbour
and S. L. Southard. Rowan, the new Senator from Kentucky.
Mark Alexander, member, with a Dr. King, of Virginia, whom
he introduced. John Bailey, member. General Harrison, the new
Senator from Ohio. Reynolds, member from Tennessee, with
Messrs. Riddle and Tomms, of Delaware. Foot, of Connec-
ticut, with Judge Bristol, who brought me' a letter from Oliver
Wolcott, Governor of Connecticut. Noyes Barber, member.
Mr. Pedersen, the Danish Minister Resident ; apologized for
the failure of his proposal to negotiate a commercial treaty ;
said it was owing to the death, last January, of the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Rosenkrantz. John Branch, Senator from
North Carolina, introduced a Judge Cooper, of Tennessee.
Dr. Watkins, the Mayor, Weightman, Colonel Henderson, and
Captain Kuhn came as a committee from the subscribers and
managers of the Inauguration ball, to be- given next Friday,
to invite me to it, and my family. Moses Hayden, member
from New York ; spoke of Governor Clinton, with a hope he
would accept the mission to London. John Sergeant. D.
Brent. W. C. Bradley. Joseph Blunt. Mr. Watmough, with
a letter of introduction from Joseph Reed. Judge Thompson,
to speak again for H. Wheaton, who is willing to go as
Charge d'Affaires to the Netherlands. Lieutenant Marston
of the Navy. At the office about four o'clock. Dade Now-
land came with recommendations and applying for a clerk-
ship. Hodgson, who had written to me to solicit an appoint-
ment as my private Secretary. I told him I should, for the
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present, have none other than my son. Mr. Clay spent part
of the evening with me. Satisfied that the opposition to his
nomination in Senate, if made at all, will be trifling in numbers.
His contempt for Kremer, whose new publication against Clay
appeared this evening in the City Gazette. Said he should
answer it, and would write a note to Ingham and McDuflie,
saying that unless they disavowed having any concern with it
he should treat it as their paper. He pressed strongly the
appointment of Harrison as Minister to Mexico.
March ist. Visitors. A. H. Everett, W. Plumer, James Bar-
bour, A. H. Tracy, Elisha Whittlesey, member from Ohio,
W. McLean, from the same State, with a Mr. Johnson. N. Van
Dyke, Senator from Delaware. George Hay, for an answer
about the carriage. I told him I was supplied with one.
Commodore Tingey. And at the office, F. Baylies, member ;
R. R. Keane, with his old claim in a new shape; General
Wingate, to enquire what would be done with the complaint
against M. L. Hill, of Bath ; Mr. Barroso Pereira, the Portu-
guese Charge d' Affaires; S. L. Southard, Secy. Navy; and
Payne Todd, son of Mrs. Madison, who offered to take mes-
sages to the Senate for me after the 4th, if I had not other-
wise provided. I was at the President's, and there met Mr.
Calhoun, who came with papers, to wind up the affairs of
the Department of War under this Administration. We had
company to dine — the Judges of the Supreme Court, Mar-
shall, Washington, Johnson, Duvall, Story, and Thompson, and
Messrs. Bibb, Blunt, Bristol, Emmet, W. Findlay, Hoffman,
C. J. Ingersoll, Edward Ingersoll, Walter Jones, Knapp, D.
B. Ogden, J. Sergeant, Swann, Watmough, H. Wheaton, and
H. L. White. Richard Peters, Jr., came in the evening. C. J.
Ingersoll and Peters spoke in very different terms of R. Rush
and his expected nomination as Secretary of the Treasury.
2d. Visitors. General R. K. Call, the delegate from Florida.
B. W. Crowninshield. I read to him my intended address, but
was so hoarse that I could scarcely get through. Colonel
Abraham Eustis, applying for the office of Adjutant-General
of the army. Says he cannot stay at his present post — Old
Point Comfort. James Barbour returned the copy of my ad-
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5i6 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [March,
dress; his remarks; objects to one or two words. T. Scott,
a Judge in Ohio ; thinks it would be well if a head of De-
partment should be taken from that State. I asked, whom?
He said perhaps J. McLean, the Postmaster-General. Joseph
Gales applied for a copy of my address, to be delivered on the
4th, for an extra Intelligencer. A Mr. Clement, to apply for
the appointment of Collector at Wilmington, Delaware. He
brought numerous recommendations. Mr. Seymour, Senator
from Vermont. P. Markley, member from Pennsylvania, with a
Mr. Riley. D. P. Cook, with papers relating to an old claim
of N. Edwards. Colonel Jones came, to claim as of right the
station of Adjutant- General of the army, and brought numerous
vouchers of his merits. W. N. Edwards, of North Carolina,
with Mr. Mann, of that State. Stephen Longfellow, of Maine,
with a Mr. Cobb. Governor Stevens, of Maryland. Judge A. B.
Woodward. W. C. Bradley, about Governor C. P. Van Ness's
claims for salary as Commissioner under the fifth article of
the Treaty of Ghent J. S. Skinner, of Baltimore, W. L. Brent
and Mr. Gurley, members of the House from Louisiana, to
take leave. John Gray. And at the office, A. H. Tracy. H. U.
Addington, the British Charge d' Affaires, to ask for an answer
about the Slave-Trade Convention. T. Scott, Blunt, and Colonel
Jones again. G. Tomlinson and A. H. Everett. I received at
the office a note from the President, mentioning that he would
go this evening to the Capitol, to sign bills ; this being, by the
joint rules of the two Houses, the last day upon which bills
could be presented for his signature. I accordingly went to
the Capitol at seven in the evening, immediately after dinner;
but the joint rule was suspended, and the President did not
come. I went into the House of Representatives, and remained
there till between ten and eleven, when I walked home.
3d. This day closed the second session of the Eighteenth Con-
gress, and the Administration of James Monroe as President of
the United States. I had passed a sleepless night, occasioned
by the unceasing excitement of many past days ; the pressure of
business in the Department of State, always heavy at the close
of a session of Congress, now redoubled at the close of my own
service of eight years in the office of Secretary ; the bustle of
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preparation for the new condition upon which I was to enter;
the multitudes of visitors, upon great varieties of business,
or for curiosity ; the anxieties of an approximating crisis, and,
above all, the failing and threatening state of my wife's health.
The stream of visitors continued this morning. S. Lathrop,
M. H. R. from Massachusetts, came with a Mr. Alfred Smith,
of Connecticut, applying for surveys of a part of Connecticut
River. Mr. Wainwright, of Boston, returning from a Western
tour. Messrs. Foote and Laurence, members of the House of
Representatives from New York, to take l^ave. Mr. Southard,
the Secretary of the Navy. Colonel Jones again, concerning
his appointment as Adjutant-General of the army. Mr. West.
Mr. Phillips. A. Thompson, member from Pennsylvania, with a
Mr. Bond. Mr. Symmes, Mr. Cruft, of Boston, A. H. Everett,
D. Brent, Mr. Carroll, General Dearborn, Mr. Palmer, and Force,
who came for a copy of my address.
At eleven this morning I went to the Capitol, where I found
the President signing bills. We remained there till near four
in the afternoon. Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Southard, Daniel Brent,
George Hay, S. L. Gouverneur, and Dr. Everett were also there.
A committee of both Houses came, and announced to the Presi-
dent that, unless he had any further communication to make to
them, they were ready to adjourn. He answered that he had
nothing further to communicate, and the two Houses adjourned
about four o'clock. Thus ended the Eighteenth Congress of
the United States. But the Senate had an evening session
upon Executive business. From the Capitol I went to the De-
partment of State, and closed the performance of my duties as
Secretary of State. General Daniel Parker came, and endeav-
ored to convince me that instead of nominating Colonel Jones
as Adjutant-General of the army I should order him to per-
form the duties, as if he were entitled to the office, without
a new appointment. I was not convinced. E. Wyer was at
the office, and left it with me. I took leave of D. Brent, the
Chief Clerk, and of Mr. Ironside and Josias W. King, two of
the Clerks. Mr. Clay was here in the evening. Near midnight
I received from the office of the National Intelligencer a proof
copy of my address, which I corrected, and returned.
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CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRESIDENCY.
Unfortunately, the materials for elucidating this important
period in the career of the writer are not continuous. The
overwhelming pressure occasioned by the constant interruption
of visitors, as well as the performance of imperative official
duties, evidently disabled him from persevering in this fninor
duty, and caused gaps in the record which he never afterwards
found time to fill. Yet, from what is left, enough will be gath-
ered to supply a fair conception of the position in which he
found himself, the difficulties by which he was surrounded, and
the manner in which he met them. The greater part of the
record consists rather of minutes for the construction of a full
narrative than of the narrative itself; yet, in the absence of the
latter, they may, however imperfect, seem better than nothing
to preserve the thread of his personal history. It will be per-
ceived that the text is now for the most part founded upon
the visits of the various persons drawn to visit him.
March 4th, 1825. — After two successive sleepless nights, I
entered upon this day with a supplication to Heaven, first, for
my country; secondly, for myself and for those connected with
my good name and fortunes, that the last results of its events
may be auspicious and blessed. About half-past eleven o'clock
I left my house with an escort of several companies of militia
and a cavalcade of citizens, accompanied in my carriage by
Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy, and William Wirt,
Attorney-General, and followed by James Monroe, late Presi-
dent of the United States, in his own carriage. We proceeded
to the Capitol, and to the Senate-chamber. The Senate were
in session, and John C. Calhoun presiding in the chair, hav-
ing been previously sworn into office as Vice-President of
the United States and President of the Senate. The Senate
518
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1825.] THE PRESIDEl^CY, jjg
adjourned, and from the Senate-chamber; accompanied by the
members of that body and by the Judges of the Supreme Court,
I repaired to the hall of the House of Representatives, and,
after delivering from the Speaker's chair my inaugural address
to a crowded auditory, I pronounced from a volume of the
laws held up to me by John Marshall, Chief Justice of the
United States, the oath faithfully to execute the office of Presi-
dent of the United States, and, to the best of my ability, to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States. After exchanging salutations with the late President,
and many other persons present. I retired from the hall,
passed in review the military companies drawn up in front of
the Capitol, and returned to my house with the same proces-
sion which accompanied me from it I found at my house a
crowd of visitors, which continued about two hours, and
received their felicitations. Before the throng had subsided,
I went myself to the President's house, and joined with the
multitude of visitors to Mr. Monroe there. I then returned
home to dine, and in the evening attended the ball, which was
also crowded, at Carusi's Hall. Immediately after supper I
withdrew, and came home. I closed the day as it had begun,
with thanksgiving to God for all His mercies and favors past,
and with prayers for the continuance of them to my country,
and to niyself and mine.
5th. General Brown called on me early this morning, to en-
quire concerning the appointment of an Adjutant-General. I
told him I should nominate Colonel Roger Jones ; with which
he declared himself much gratified. The office has been in
substance three years vacant, in consequence of a difference
between the President and the Senate on the construction of
the law reducing the army. A multitude of visitors of con-
gratulation, and to take leave, absorbed the day. James Bar-
bour and S. L. Southard were here immediately after break-
fast; and among the visitors were Mr. Macon, Senator from
North Carolina, and T. W. Cobb, Senator from Georgia.
An Administration was to be formed. Soon after noon,
James Lloyd and Nathaniel Macon came, as a committee from
the Senate, to notify me that they were in session, ready to
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520 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
receive any communication from me; to which I answered that
I should make them a communication at an early hour this day.
On the evening of the 3d, I had, at about nine o'clock, received
a note from Mr. Monroe, informing me that he had shortly be-
fore received a letter from Mr. Crawford resigning the office of
Secretary of the Treasury. I now sent by Daniel Brent, Chief
Clerk of the Department of State, a message to the Senate,
nominating —
Henry Clay, of Kentucky, to be Secretary of State.
Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury.
James Barbour, of Virginia, Secretary for the Department of
War.
Alexander Hill Everett, of Massachusetts, Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain.
Christopher Hughes, of Maryland, Charge d*Affaires to the
Netherlands.
Thomas Ludwell Lee Brent, of Virginia, Charge d* Affaires
to Portugal.
John M. Forbes, of Massachusetts, Charge d'Affaires at
Buenos Ayres.
William Miller, of North Carolina, Charge d'Affaires to
Guatemala.
Condy Raguet, of Pennsylvania, Charge d'Affaires to Brazil,
and
Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Jones, Adjutant-General of the
Army.
I sent at the same time four other messages with nominations:
1. Officers of the Customs, whose commissions are about
expiring, renominated.
2. Registrars of the Land Offices and Receivers of public
moneys, renominated.
3. Navy Agents.
4. Governor and Legislative Council of Florida; certain
Consuls ; and others.
Most of the renominations had been already made by Mr.
Monroe, but, as the commissions of the incumbents would not
expire within the term of his Administration, the Senate had
declined acting upon them. Efforts had been made by some
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i82S.] THE PRESIDENCY, 52 1
of the Senators to obtain different nominations, and to intro-
duce a principle of change or rotation in office at the expira-
tion of these commissions ; which would make the Government
a perpetual and unintermitting scramble for office. A more
pernicious expedient could scarcely have been devised. The
office of Marshal for the district of Indiana was that upon
which the principal struggle was made. John Vawter, the
incumbent, had been renominated by Mr. Monroe. There
was no complaint against him, but numerous recommenda-
tions, especially from Senators, of Noah Noble, a brother of
the Senator from Indiana, for the appointment; Mr. Noble,
the Senator, ostensibly taking no part in the canvass. But a
few days before the Presidential election I received a letter
from John Test, one of the members of the House from In-
diana, informing me that the Senate would not act upon the
nomination by Mr. Monroe of Vawter; recommending Noble,
and that Vawter*s name should be withdrawn, to place the can-
didates on an equal footing. I mentioned this suggestion to
Mr. Monroe, but neither he nor I was inclined to take the hint.
Samuel Eddy also, a member of the House from Rhode Island,
informed me that he would accept the office of Collector at
Providence, if appointed to it, in the place of T. Coles, whose
commission is expiring. He intimated that Coles was person-
ally incompetent, but that no one would take the responsibility
of complaining against him. Great interest was made against
the re-appointment of Allen McLane, Collector at Wilmington,
Delaware, and two persons were strongly recommended for his
place ; there were complaints against him, but of a character
altogether indefinite. I determined to renominate every person
against whom there was no complaint which would have war-
ranted his removal ; and renominated every person nominated
by Mr. Monroe, and upon whose nomination the Senate had
declined acting. Mr. Monroe always acted on this principle
of renomination. I did not this day send nominations for
the missions to Great Britain or to Mexico, nor of a Charge
d'Affaires to Sweden. The first I leave open some days, at
the earnest request of some of Mr. Clinton's friends, for the
possible chance that he may reconsider his determination. I
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522 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
wait for the decision of the Senate upon the nomination of C.
Hughes, to vacate his place at Stockholm; and I concluded,
after much deliberation, to offer to Joel Roberts Poinsett, of
South Carolina, the nomination of Minister to Mexico. I ac-
cordingly sent for him this morning and made him the offer.
It had been made to him by Mr. Monroe early during the late
session of Congress, and declined upon considerations most of
which do not now apply. He made, however, now, two ob-
jections : one, that, upon vacating his seat in Congress, a very
troublesome and unprincipled man would probably be chosen
in his place; the other, that he had recommended to Mr.
Monroe another person for the mission to Mexico. I knew
who this person was. It was Thomas H. Benton, a Senator
from Missouri, who, from being a furious personal and polit-
ical enemy of General Jackson, became, about the time of this
recommendation, a partisan not less ardent in his favor. I
now told Poinsett that with regard to the consequences of his
vacating his seat in Congress I could form no judgment,
having little knowledge of the state of politics at Charleston,
and no acquaintance with the person who might be his suc-
cessor; but that if he should decline, I should not offer the
mission to the person whom he had recommended to Mr.
Monroe.
He asked time for consideration, and promised to give me a
definitive answer to-morrow.
Among the numerous visitors of this day to take leave was
Joseph Blunt, who recommended Charles King for the ap-
pointment of Collector at New York in the event of a vacancy.
Blunt asked nothing for himself, but suggested as expedient
policy the employment of young men.
In my solitary walk before dinner I met Mr. Calhoun walk-
ing in front of his own door, and .told him I had offered the
Mexican mission to Poinsett. After dinner I went to the
Capitol to attend the second lecture of Mr. Owen of Lanark,
but it was postponed till Monday evening.
After returning home, I called upon Mr. Rufus King, at his
lodgings at Williamson's. His term of service as a Senator
expired on the 3d, and he had declined a re-election, intending
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iSas.J THE PRESIDENCY. 523
to retire from the public service. He leaves the city to-morrow
morning to return home. I told him of the nominations I had
made, and that I had omitted that for the mission to England
at the earnest desire of some of Mr. Clinton's 'friends. But,
I said, the reason assigned by Mr. Clinton for declining the
appointment was, in my opinion, one which he could not re-
consider, nor had I any expectation that he would. I therefore
asked Mr. King if he would accept that mission.
His first and immediate impulse was to decline it. He said
that his determination to retire from the public service had
been made up, and that this proposal was utterly unexpected
to him.
Of this I was aware ; but I urged upon him a variety of
considerations to induce his acceptance of it: the general
importance of the mission — in my estimation, not inferior to
that of any one of the Departments ; the special importance
to the States of New York and of Maine of certain interests
in negotiation with Great Britain; his peculiar qualifications
for the conduct of those negotiations ; his duty to the country
not to refuse services so important, and for which perhaps
no other individual would be so well suited ; the satisfaction
which the appointment, and his acceptance of it, would give
to the federal party throughout the Union ; the tendency that
it would h^e to heal our divisions and harmonize the feelings
of the people ; the opportunity which he would afford me of
promoting this reconciliation of parties, and at the same time
of proving by my example the sincerity of the sentiments
avowed in my address. I dwelt with earnestness upon all
these motives, and apparently not without effect He admitted
the force of them, and finally promised fully to consider of the
proposal before giving me a definitive answer.
On returning home, I found B. W. Crowninshield, who came
to take leave. Going to-morrow. Long conversation with him,
6th. I sent this morning for A. H. Everett, and informed him
that I had nominated him to the Senate as Minister to Spain.
After the morning service, I called upon Mr. Clay at his
lodgings, where he is confined by indisposition. Mr. Storrs, of
New York, was with him, but soon withdrew. I mentioned to
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524 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [March,
Mr. Clay the nominations sent to the Senate yesterday, my
proposal of the Mexican mission to Mr. Poinsett, and my
conversation last evening with Mr. King. Mr. Clay was well
satisfied that Mr. King should go to England, but wished that
General W. H. Harrison, of Ohio, should receive the appoint-
ment to Mexico. Harrison has just now taken his seat as a
Senator from the State of Ohio, but is himself exceedingly
anxious to obtain the appointment to Mexico, and solicits
recommendations for it, of which he has succeeded in obtain-
ing many. Mr. Clay had, however, no particular objection to
Mr. Poinsett. He spoke of the threatened opposition to the
Administration, and thought it would not be formidable. He
did not expect more than three or four votes against the con-
firmation by the Senate of his nomination as Secretary of State.
But Mr. King told me last evening that Mr. Van Buren had
assured him the nomination would be opposed, though he
(Van Buren) would not join in it. Clay spoke of a letter from
General Jackson to Samuel Swartwout just published, and
which I had not seen.
Mr. Poinsett called, and accepted the mission to Mexico.
7th. Joseph Anderson, Comptroller of the Treasury, was
here this morning, and Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the
Navy, whom I determined to appoint acting Secretary of the
Treasury, according to the Act of Congress of 1 3th February,
1795. I signed two hundred and fifty land-grants and twelve
blank military land-warrants. Sent Daniel Brent, Chief Clerk
of the Department of State, to the Senate with messages of
nominations. The Senate, by a vote of twenty-three to eigh-
teen, decided against the right of James Lanman to sit in that
body, under an appointment from the Governor of Connecti-
cut, made during the recess of the Legislature. I had visits
from W. Findlay, Senator from Pennsylvania, with Mr. C. W.
Weaver ; from Levi S. Burr, and Jeremy Robinson, applicants
for offices; and from many others. Received also a multitude
of letters, applications, and recommendations for office. After
dinner, we attended at the Capitol Mr. Owen of Lanark's second
lecture, which was nearly three hours long. He read great part
of it from a printed book. President Monroe was there, and
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I82S.] THE PRESIDENCY. 525
Mr. Southard, who told me that the Comptroller, Anderson,
made some objection to his acting as Secretary of the Treasury.
Said he would call at my house to-morrow morning.
The Senate this day advised and consented to all the nomi-
nations of the first message sent them on Saturday. There
was no opposition to any of them, excepting to that of Henry
Clay as Secretary of State, and that opposition appeared only
by the yeas and nays, which were : Yeas — Barton, Bell, Benton,
Bouligny, Chandler, Chase, Clayton, De Wolfe, Dickerson,
Edwards, Gaillard, Harrison, Hendricks, Holmes of Maine,
Johnston of Louisiana, Kane, King, Knight, Lloyd of Mary-
land, Lloyd of Massachusetts, Mills, Rowan, Ruggles, Sey-
mour, Smith, Van Buren, Van Dyke — twenty-seven. Nays —
Berrien, Branch, Cobb, Eaton, Findlay, Hayne, Holmes of Mis-
sissippi, Jackson, Mcllvaine, Macon, Marks, Tazewell, Thomas,
and Williams — fourteen.
From each of the States of New Hampshire, Connecticut,
and New York, there was only one Senator, there being one
vacancy in each; one Senator from Alabama had not taken
his seat; one Senator from Virginia, James Barbour, was ab-
sent, being himself nominated as Secretary of War; one from
Kentucky, Richard M. Johnson, left the city last week ; James
Noble, from Indiana, was accidentally absent when the question
was taken, came in afterwards, and requested to record his name
in favor of the nomination, which, by a rule of the Senate, was
not admitted.
This was the first act of the opposition from the stump which
is to be carried on against the Administration under the banners
of General Jackson. There are, however, besides his own, only
two negative votes of his partisans ; the rest are caucus Craw-
fordites amalgamated with the coalition between Pennsylvania
and South Carolina. The Crawford men on this occasion have
divided, and their votes show that they have finally abandoned
Mr. Crawford as a candidate. The votes of the Senators from
Georgia, those of the North Carolina Senators, and that of Mr.
Tazewell from Virginia, indicate the rallying of the South and
of Southern interests and prejudices to the men of the South.
Cobb was the man who, in 1819, offered the resolutions in the
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526 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [March,
House of Representatives against Jackson's proceedings in the
Seminole War.
I signed the commissions of H. Clay as Secretary of State,
and James Barbour, Secretary of War.
8th. Mr. Southard and Mr. Wirt came together, upon the
objection started by the Comptroller, Anderson, to Southard's
being appointed acting Secretary of the Treasury. The diffi-
culty was, to his issuing as Secretary of the Treasury warrants
upon his own requisitions as Secretary of the Navy. The
Attorney-General was of opinion that the question had been
settled by the precedent in 1813, when Mr. William Jones,
being Secretary of the Navy, was appointed acting Secretary
of the Treasury, when Mr. Gallatin went to Russia; and con-
tinued in that capacity nine or ten months, the latter part of
which while Congress was in session ; and there are warrants
at the Treasury signed by him upon his own requisitions.
The Comptroller, Anderson, seeing the evidence of this pre-
cedent, withdrew his objection to Mr. Southard's acting.
Mr. Clay and Mr. Barbour, respectively, took the oaths of
office, as Secretary of State and Secretary of War, yesterday,
and entered upon the discharge of their duties. I sent to the
Senate messages, with nominations, and signed sixteen blank
patents. Many of my visitors were members of Congress, who
came to take leave, and some were applicants for offices. Mr.
Alfred Smith left papers with me requesting a survey of Con-
necticut River, above Hartford, for improving its navigation.
Dickins came to make definitive arrangements respecting Mr.
Crawford's plate. The usual appropriation of fourteen thou-
sand dollars for refurnishing the President's^ house was made
by an Act of Congress at the close of the session. Mr. Craw-
ford being desirous to dispose of his plate, and as there was no
probability that he could dispose of it here, I agreed to take it
for the public service and pay for it from this appropriation.
There were during Mr. Monroe's Administration fifty thou-
sand dollars appropriated for furnishing the house. He had
placed the fund under the management of Colonel Lane, who,
two or three years since, died insolvent, with twenty thousand
dollars of public moneys unaccounted for, which has given rise
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to much obloquy upon Mr. Monroe. I have determined, there-
fore, to charge myself with the amount of the new appropria-
tion, and to be myself accountable to the Treasury for its
expenditure. The plate, by Mr. Crawford's desire, has been
appraised by two silversmiths : one, Mr. Burnett, of George-
town, named by Mr. Crawford; the other, Mr. Leonard, of
this city, named by me.
Mr. Owen of Lanark told me that he should now proceed
upon his visit to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, and should
return here in eight or ten days. Major Miller came, under
great excitement, complaining that Major Smith, a brevetted
officer, his junior, had been promoted by a second brevet,
while he had been overlooked. I found, upon examination of
the law and of a report from Colonel Henderson, that I could
not, at least now, nominate Miller for a second brevet. But it
is a question for future consideration whether he has not an
equitable claim to it.
9th. The special session of the Senate, which met as called,
on the 4th of March, was this day closed ; the Vice-President,
John C. Calhoun, having absented himself, according to the
usage; upon which John Gaillard, of South Carolina, was
elected President of the Senate pro tem. ; of which, by a reso-
lution of the Senate, a written notification was delivered to me
by Charles Cutts, their Secretary. About two in the afternoon,
Samuel Smith and Nathaniel Macon came as a committee to
inform me that, if I had no further communication to make to
them, they were ready to adjourn ; to which I answered that
I had no further communication to make. On receiving the
report of their committee they immediately adjourned without
day. Mr. Macon said he must be at the steamboat for Norfolk
at four o'clock.
The French and Russian Ministers came in full costume,
and for the purpose of congratulation. They had requested
the appointment of a time for this ceremony, and I had named
this day for it, but I received them alone in my drawing-room.
The Baron de Tuyl made me a short complimentary speech,
which I answered with equal brevity. The French Minister
made none. General Izard was going to Philadelphia. He
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528 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
seemed not satisfied with the appointment of Governor of Ar-
kansas, which, he observed, he had neither desired nor expected.
He would accept it. however, in the hope that he would be
remembered hereafter for a mission abroad. This was what
his friends had recommended him for, and to which he thought
himself entitled for his own services, and those of his father,
during the Revolutionary War, and since.
The Comptroller, Anderson, observed thSt when he took
the objection to Mr. Southard's acting as Secretary of the
Treasury he was not aware of the precedent of Mr. Jones's
acting during Mr. Gallatin's absence, which completely covered
the present case. In the evening I visited Mr. Monroe, at the
President's house. He is making preparations for his departure,
with his family, but is somewhat delayed by the illness of Mrs.
Monroe.
loth. Charles Cutts, the Secretary of the Senate, brought me
the resolutions of the Senate advising and consenting to all the
nominations I had sent, with the exception of Amos Binney as
Navy Agent at Boston, which they postponed. Also the refusal
of their advice and consent to the ratification of the Slave-Trade
Convention with the republic of Colombia. He had brought
me on the 5th the resolution of advice and consent to the gen-
eral commercial treaty with Colombia, and their advice and
consent to the ratification of a recent treaty with the Creek
Indians. Mr. Crowell is extremely dissatisfied with the treaty,
though his name is affixed to it as a witness, and he seemed
disposed to urge that it should not be ratified, notwithstanding
the advice and consent.
April 15th. Clay, H. Draft of instructions to J. M. Forbes
approved. King of Naples's letter announcing his father's
death to be answered. Letter from C. Hughes. Proposal to
sell island of St. Bartholomew for five hundred thousand dol-
lars. Dispatches from R. Rush. Slave Indemnity Commission.
Jackson has delivered the documents furnished by the British
Government. Salmon's application for a second loan of five or
six thousand dollars. I inclined to accede to it. Mr. Clay was
reluctant, and I authorized him to decline the advance. Apple-
ton's destination changed. A letter has been written to him
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announcing it, and the allowance at the rate of four thousand
five hundred dollars a year for his new destination.
i6th. Southard, S. L. Court of Enquiry upon Commodore
David Porter. Letter from Porter to Southard complaining of
delay. Bainbridge's objections to sitting in the Court consid-
ered— not valid. Importance of appointing an officer senior to
Porter to preside. Morris and Wadsworth to be the two others.
Case of Captain Isaac Phillips. Conversation relating to it.
The evidence adduced by Phillips demolishes his own state-
ments and pretensions. The letters of Simmons and Fuller
positively contradict him. Goldsborough's account partially
favorable to him. Mr. Southard took back the papers, to make
a supplementary confidential report, not to be made public
unless it should become necessary.
Samuel Angus's memorial ; decision in his case as in that of
Phillips. No authority in the President to reinstate him, but a
pension equal to half-pay may be allowed him upon application
supported by proof I give written decisions in both cases to
be filed in the Department, and copies of all the papers are to
be furnished me.
Sullivan, George, wishes me to interpose with P. Hagner,
Third Auditor, to press the examination of the Massachusetts
claim documents. Expediency doubtful. State of political
parties in Boston. Webster's standing and popularity. Recent
elections thinly attended.
17th. Little in the evening. Mark xii. 28 : "And one of the
scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and
perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which
is the first commandment of all ?*' and the six following verses.
He said, " Don't be alarmed at the length of the text, for you
will have a very short sermon."
Letter from Commodore David Porter — impatient and angry.
Letter from Chevalier Brito, with Millie's translation of Ca-
moens's Lusiad. Evening. Came home in darkness that could
be felt, and rain. House locked up, and the porter, Robertson,
had carried away the key. Sent for it, and had it returned.
18th. Clay, H., has agreed with Baron Tuyl upon an indem-
nity to be made to Bryant and Sturgis by the Russian Govern-
voL. VI. — 34
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530 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
ment. Instructions to Raguet. Returned him the draft, pro-
posing omission of a paragraph respecting the slave-trade.
St. Domingo. Mr. Clay thinks the independence of the Hay-
tian Government must shortly be recognized. My objections.
Review of the course of the late Administration upon that sub-
ject. Discussion. Judge in the western district of Virginia.
Pindall, Caldwell, Taylor, Breckenridge, Doddridge, etc. Clerks
in the Department. Their punctuality to be stimulated.
19th. Barbour, James, S. W., with application from Mr. Jef-
ferson for a payment of fifty thousand dollars on account of
interest payable to Virginia by Act of Congress of 3d March,
1825, ch. 108, although the amount is not yet ascertained.
The Act of 31st January, 1823, prohibits advances. This, Bar-
bour said, was no advance. I thought it questionable, on the
letter of the two laws, but consented that the payment should
be made, in consideration of the object and the emergency, and
the certainty that the sum payable will be larger.
Southard, S. L., and Wirt. Mr. Southard again objects to
the appointment of Bainbridge and Morris, Navy Commissioners,
on the Court of Enquiry upon Porter's conduct. Thinks it un-
popular with the Navy on account of the connection of the
Board with the Department, and for other reasons. I agreed
that he should appoint Chauncey, Crane, and Wadsworth.
2 1st. Clay, H., has settled with Baron Tuyl the claim of
Bryant and Sturgis upon the Russian Government for the case
of the Pearl on the Northwest coast. Spoke of the instruc-
tions to Mr. Miller, as Charge d' Affaires to Guatemala, and of
the answer to Mr. Canaz, on the proposal for opening the pas-
sage between the Atlantic and Pacific; of the Slave Indem-
nity Convention, and the great probability that it will prove
abortive, or must be carried into effect by a new negotiation
with Great Britain; of the appointment of a Judge for the
western district of Virginia, and very favorably of Pendleton.
But the offer is to be made to Baldwin.
23d. Brown, General, had sent me a letter of June, 1823,
from Governor Cass to Calhoun, S. W., and his (Brown's) an-
swer to it. Cass's letter urged having troops in force in the
Michigan Territory, and fortifying Detroit. Brown's answer
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shows different views. Brown said he had been much hurt at
the order given by me a few days since without consulting him
for continuing the troops at Mackinaw ; under the late Admin-
istration these arrangements having been invariably referred to
him, and no other answer having been given from the War
Department to Cass's letter, which he had sent me, than his.
I told him that the memorial of Cass, and the remonstrance
from the Legislative Council of Michigan, had, in the absence
of Governor Barbour, been sent to me by the Chief Clerk of
the War Department, Major Vandeventer, with a recommenda-
tion to issue the order, as I did. And I directed the order to
issue accordingly, supposing that Vandeventer had commu-
nicated with General Brown before he recommended the issuing
of the order.
General Brown declared himself satisfied on this point. But,
he said, Cass*s alarm about an Indian war was very foolish, and
he thought the concentration of the troops and the abandon-
ment of all useless posts very desirable.
Messrs. Clay, Barbour, W. C. Somerville, and W. Lee, with
Captain Isaiah Doane, successively called, followed by Mr.
Southard, who now came upon business, and occupied my
time from breakfast till half-past four p.m., without intermission.
Mr. Clay had sent me several dispatches from R. C. Anderson,
at Bogota, from R. Rush, at London, and from C. Hughes, at
Stockholm. The Mexican Minister, Obregon, had proposed to
him that the United States should send Ministers to the pro-
posed American Congress at Panama. Mr. Clay strongly in-
clines to it, and proposed a Cabinet consultation concerning it.
In the National Journal of this morning there is a paper relating
to this project, which is of "great importance; and, besides the
objects there noticed as fit subjects for the deliberations of this
Congress, that of endeavoring to establish American principles
of maritime, belligerent, and neutral law is an additional inter-
est of infinite magnitude. Clay thought it would be a good
mission for Mr. Gallatin. This is a grain of mustard-seed.
Mr. Clay read me part of a letter from P. B. Porter, in New
York, asserting that De Witt Clinton is inveterately hostile to
the present Administration of the General Government, which I
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5^2 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [April,
hear also from various other sources. Clay left also with me
a letter from C. Hammond, at Cincinnati, Ohio, containing some
information.
Mr. Barbour brought me a letter from Mr. Quincy, Mayor
of Boston, relating to the execution of a law of Congress of
the last session, containing an appropriation for the preservation
of the islands in Boston harbor, and a letter from Newell,
a Clerk in the War Department, enquiring if the Clerks in the
public offices are not exempted from the performance of militia
duty by the Act of Congress of 8th May, 1792, under the
denomination of Executive officers. I thought they were.
I returned to Mr. Barbour the papers from Governor Cass
relating to the Indian murderers, and the proceedings of the
Court-martial at West Point on the cadet McNeal.
Mr. Southard brought a letter from General Swift, Surveyor
of the port of New York, proposing to make experiments to
ascertain the comparative merits of hydrometers, for the execu-
tion of a law of the last session authorizing the Secretary of
the Treasury to change the hydrometer hitherto prescribed by
law in the custom-houses (Dycas's).
I thought the law did not authorize experiments; but re-
quested Mr. Southard to ascertain upon what representations
the law authorizing the change was enacted.
25th. Jackson came, to solicit a clerkship. Mrs. Baker, to
entreat me to release her husband, committed to a loathsome
jail yesterday, by an order of Judge Thruston, for the indecency
of beating a child of his own on a Sunday. Mr. Hunter, to
ask for contributions for building a Methodist church at Detroit,
in the Michigan Territory. Mr. T. Cook, merely for a visit.
Judge Woodward, to show me letters he had received from
Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison relating to the author of the
Constitution of Virginia. He also showed me a letter from my
father, and I read to him in Niles's Register of last June my
father's letter to Nathan Webb, of 12th October, 1755. Mr.
Woodward spoke of his project for the establishment of a De-
partment of the Interior, which I told him I thought Congress
would not for some time sanction. I mentioned to him the
reason assigned to me by Mr. Monroe for omitting the recom-
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mendation of it in his last annual message, which was, that
having recommended in the same message an increase of the
Judges of the Supreme Court, he was apprehensive it would
have too much the appearance of a projecting spirit to recom-
mend also additions to the Executive Department.
Mr. Clay informed me that Mr. Addington had requested
that I would appoint a time to receive him, to make a commu-
nication from his Government of congratulation upon my elec-
tion. I fixed to-morrow at one o'clock, but observed that if it
was a written communication a copy of it should be previously
furnished to the Department of State. Mr. Brent afterwards
made enquiry of Mr. Addington, and found it was only an
instruction from the Foreign Department Mr. Clay observed
that his health was so much affected, and he was so confident
of deriving benefit from a journey, as he always had under the
same complaint, that he proposed preparing instructions for
Mr. R. King upon the single point of the Slave Indemnity
Commission, and to postpone the remaining topics until after
his return from Kentucky, so that Mr. King may embark with-
out delay.
To this I readily assented, convinced that it would occasion
no real delay. It was also agreed that Mr. Somerville should
be allowed to postpone his departure for Sweden till July or
August, to accomplish his matrimonial project with Miss Cora
Livingston, at New Orleans, his salary not to commence till he
shall depart upon his mission.
Dispatch from James Brown, at Paris, with confidential
copies of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zea Ber-
mudez's, answer to the notification from the British Cabinet of
their intention to recognize the South American independents,
and of a letter from London, showing the dissatisfaction of
Russia, Austria, and Prussia at the British recognition.
26th. Southard, S. L., proposes to pay three millions of the
six per cent, stocks, redeemable this year, on the 1st of July,
and the other three millions the 1st of October. There will
not be funds in the Treasury to pay the whole on the ist of
July. I asked him if the Bank of the United States would not
undertake to pay the whole on the ist of July, receiving in-
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534 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
terest upon any balaitce which might be due from the Treasury
until refunded. It could not exceed ninety days — probably not
sixty.
He will enquire, but thinks this would not be legal.
At one, Mr. H. U. Addington, Charge d'Affaires from Great
Britain, came in form, and said he was instructed by his Gov-
ernment to offer me their congratulations upon my election to
the office of President of the United States ; and that he could
not execute those instructions better than by reading them to
me. He accordingly took the dispatch from his pocket and
read it to me. It was complimentary, and dwelt especially on
the idea that, having myself been at one time the representative
of my country at the Court of Great Britain, I had been en-
abled fully to appreciate the friendly dispositions of the British
Government; and it mentioned in terms of high recommenda-
tion Mr. Vaughan, the newly-appointed Minister coming to this
country.
Mr. Addington said he had also a private letter from Mr. G.
Canning concerning the election, which he gave me to read.
It was merely an assurance that his personal wishes had been
altogether favorable to my election in preference to all the
other candidates — particularly as he had supposed that if the
election had fallen upon another, I should not have continued
in the Department of State.
I desired Mr. Addington to assure his Government that I
had received with sensibility this communication ; that I con-
sidered it among the most fortunate circumstances of my life
that I had been instrumental, first in restoring peace between
our two countries, then in adjusting important concerns of
navigation and commerce between them, by Conventions
which had promoted harmony and friendly intercourse ; after-
wards, by my residence for two years as the Minister of the
United States in England, and finally, for eight years, as a
member of the late Administration ; that it had been one of
my predecessor's most ardent wishes to cultivate a good un-
derstanding with Great Britain; that, concurring with that
desire, it would still influence my conduct The policy of the
Government would remain the same. Mr. Vaughan, when he
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should arrive, would be very cordially received. The character
given of him by Mr. Canning would insure him a welcome,
and I hoped he would have every reason to be satisfied with his
residence here. And I took this occasion to say that whatever
his own 'destination was to be, no person could, by his con-
duct, make himself more acceptable than he had done. If he
was to remain here, we should be gratified. If he should leave
us, we should regret the loss of him, and hope that he would
go only in the line of promotion.
He was much pleased with this testimonial, and said he had
never been anywhere more kindly treated than here.
I desired him to thank Mr. Canning for the friendly expres-
sions of his private letter, and to say that I had before been
indebted to him for obliging attentions, which were well re-
membered, although the acknowledgment of them had been
neglected by me. I alluded to his having sent to me, through
Mr. Rush, a copy of one of his speeches. I added that, as a
manifestation of my earnest wish for harmony with Great
Britain, I had selected for the mission to that Court, as he was
no doubt aware, a person who had already been many years in
England in that capacity, and who had been always advanta-
geously known and much esteemed there. Finally, I desired
him to express the great satisfaction which I had felt, and with
the concurring sentiment of this nation, at the determined stand
taken recently by his Government in recognizing the southern
nations of this hemisphere. It was delightful to find Great
Britain openly and explicitly pledged in support of liberal
principles of national independence, and the more so, as we
were well informed the taking of that step had produced a
crisis requiring at once all the firmness and prudence which
any statesman could display.
He said he would not fail in the proper manner to commu-
nicate to his Government these remarks.
W. C. Somerville came, and repeated the application for
leave to postpone his departure upon his mission to Sweden
for about three months to go and be married at New Orleans ;
to which I assented, but observed that it would be for his own
interest to repair as soon as possible to his post, believing that
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536 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
considerable changes were even now taking place in the politics
of Europe, and that there would be much information to be
collected and transmitted.
27th. Barbour, S. W., cante concerning the purchase of ord-
nance and the questions of contested rank between 'officers ;
left with me the papers relating to all these subjects. J. Reed,
member from Massachusetts, complains that the ordnance is all
purchased from three or four founderies at extravagant prices,
instead of advertising for competition, as the law requires, for
contracts of supplies. The argument for the founderies from
which the purchases are made is, that they are very expensive
establishments, got up during the late war at much hazard, and
in the Government's time of need, in the confidence that the
Government would purchase exclusively from them; and, as
there is no demand for the articles but for the Government, the
competition of others, if encouraged, must be ruinous to them.
The subject has already been brought to the notice of Congress
the three sessions last past, but they have not acted upon it.
Mr. Barbour advises to continue the exclusive purchases as
heretofore, that it may be mentioned in the annual report rela-
tive to the condition of the War Department, so that Congress
may act upon it if they think proper. He told me he had an-
swered two late letters from the Governor of Georgia asking
the appointment of Commissioners on the part of the United
States to run boundary lines between the States of Georgia and
Alabama, and between Georgia and the Territory of Florida.
With the first the United States could not comply, unless at the
proposal of Alabama as well as of Georgia, and so Governor
Troup had already once been answered a year since. For the
line between Georgia and Florida, Commissioners might be ap-
pointed by the Government of the United States, but an appro-
priation for it will be necessary, and it will be recommended to
Congress at their next session.
H. Clay reported the substance of his conversations with
Obregon, the Mexican, and Salazar, the Colombian Minister,
upon the proposal of a Congress of American Ministers to be
held at Panama next October. Mr. Clay continues earnest in
the desire that a Minister should be appointed to attend this
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Congress. Mr. Barbour urges many objections against it, and
on Mr. Wirt's return from Baltimore I propose to have a meet-
ing of the members of the Administration to consult upon the
expediency of it.
Samuel • Pooley, a journeyman mathematical instrument-
maker, of New York, brought and presented to me a box of
miniature knives, forks, razors, and scissors made by himself.
I told him I made it a general rule to accept no presents, but
would make an exception in this case, considering it as a re-
markable example of skill and ingenuity, which I should be
glad to exhibit as such to my friends.
28th. General Brown came, and had a long conversation with
me upon the question of rank between several officers in the
army. In that between Gaines and Scott, he thinks Gaines has
the right. He took back a letter from Governor Clinton to
him, giving the opinion that there is no use in retaining a mil-
itary post at Niagara. The General appears not pleased that
the school of practice at Old Point Comfort, or Fortress Mon-
roe, should have been detached from the general administration
of the army and taken under the special charge of the War
Department. He attributes it to Mr. Calhoun's excessive thirst
of regulating reputation, and turning everything into instru-
ments for the promotion of his own popularity. He spoke
also of the new Army Regulations, which he took care to have
established by an order from Mr. Monroe, issued almost on
the last day of his Administration, but which I told Brown I
should take the liberty to revise.
29th. Southard, S. N., concerning the payment of the six mil-
lion six per cents, of 1812. He has ascertained that the funds
in the Treasury will not suffice to make the payment on the
1st of July, and concludes to make it the ist of October next.
Notice is to be issued accordingly. A payment on the ist of
July would save forty-five thousand dollars of interest; and,
as the sum in the Treasury will then be within less than a
million sufficient, I proposed to effect it by an arrangement
with the Bank of the United States; but Mr. Southard thinks
it not authorized by law. Mr. Biddle, the president of the
bank, called on me, and I spoke of it to him ; but he did not
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538 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [April,
favor it. Biddle was to leave the city this day, returning to
Philadelphia.
Parker, Daniel, brought a memorial respecting the settle-
ment of his accounts. He claimed double rations as Adjutant-
General, which the Auditor thought him entitled to, but which
Cutts, the Second Comptroller, denied, by the direct interposi-
tion of the late Secretary of War— Calhoun. Parker desired
of me a general direction to the accounting officers of the
Treasury to settle his accounts on the same principles as those
of others, but I told him that was the precise question of the
case — that is, whether his office as Adjutant-General was one
of those entitled to double rations ; that if the Second Comp-
troller would state the specific ground of the question, I would
decide it, but could not with propriety give any such general
direction, which would be merely equivalent to ordering them
to do their duty.
Nourse, Joseph, Registrar, proposes to introduce to me a Mr.
Gallaudet, employed in the Treasury. I showed Mr. Nourse
the erroneous charge in the statement of my accounts, printed
with the report of the committee on those of Mr. Monroe.
He afterwards sent me a letter, with the copy of my account,
and the acknowledgment of the error.
Clay, H., preparing instructions for A. H. Everett and R.
King. He proposes to postpone those of Mr. King, excepting
upon the Slave Indemnity Commission, till after his return
from Kentucky ; to which I assented. He read me a letter he
had written to General Gaines, resenting the conduct of Gaines's
Aid, Lieutenant Butler, whom General Brown had introduced
to Clay in my antechamber, where they met the other day.
Butler, who is a connection of General Jackson, evaded taking
Clay's proffered hand, and yesterday Gaines left a card at Clay's
lodgings, but Butler did not. Clay, in his letter, said to Gaines
that he had supposed' Butler's reason for withholding his hand
had been because he had a cutaneous disease.
30th. Brown, General. Conversation with him concerning
the new Army Regulations, the disputes for rank of Burd
and Lomax, and the claim of Captain Baker; the school for
artillery practice at Point Comfort, and the general condition of
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the army. In the case of Lomax and Burd, the rank having
been settled during the suspension of the rules of promotion
upon the reduction in the army in 182 1, the General thinks
it ought not to be unsettled. The claim of Baker he thinks
just. In the Army Register of this year that officer was dis-
placed by an arbitrary act, and the date of his commission set
down as about two years later than it had really been issued.
I told General Brown I should certainly correct this procedure,
and not permit the repetition of it. Brown spoke in high terms
of Abraham Eustis, and said he thought he should be brevetted.
Clay, H., brought letters from C. Hughes and S. Smith, of
Baltimore. Hughes's enclosed copy of an answer received by
him from G. Canning, which has put him out of his wits with
exultation — his letter is a dissertation to prove that the whole
science of diplomacy consists in giving dinners; and Smith
thinks that our diplomatic appointments have not strength-
ened the Administration. Clay wishes to hasten his return to
Kentucky, and has had pressing invitations to receive public
dinners on the road. I advised him not to decline them. He
spoke with great bitterness of the appointment by McLean, the
Postmaster-General, of H. Lee to some informal office in that
Department.
Day, Since my removal to the Presidential mansion I rise
about five ; read two chapters of Scott's Bible and Commen-
tary, and the corresponding commentary of Hewlett; then the
morning newspapers, and public papers from the several De-
partments ; write seldom, and not enough ; breakfast an hour,
from nine to ten; then have a succession of visitors, upon
business, in search of place, solicitors for donations, or for
mere curiosity, from eleven till between four and five o'clock.
The heads of Departments of course occupy much of this
time. Between four and six I take a walk of three or four
miles. Dine from about half-past five till seven, and from dark
till about eleven I generally pass the evening in my chamber,
signing land-grants or blank patents, in the interval of which,
for the last ten days, I have brought up three months of arrears
in my diarj'^ index. About eleven I retire to bed. My evenings
are not so free from interruption as I had hoped and expected
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540 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
they would be, nor have I the prospect of methodizing the dis-
tribution of my time to my own satisfaction. There is much
to correct and reform, and the precept of diligence is always
timely.
May 2d. Clay, H. Is preparing the instructions for R. King,
as Envoy to Great Britain, upon the Colonial Trade question;
thinks there is more than plausibility in the British claims,
and that we ought to concede something on this point Case
of H. Lee.
5th. Angus, late Captain, came again upon his application
for re-instatement in the navy. I had both in his and in Isaac
Phillips's case decided that I had no constitutional power to
restore to his rank and employment an officer dismissed from
the service by one of my predecessors. Angus appealed pow-
erfully to my sympathy ; said he had no other means of sub-
sistence ; asked me to nominate him anew to the Senate, and
in the mean time give him an acting appointment as Captain.
He would take rank at the bottom of the list, rather than lose
everything. I came with Angus from Gothenburg to the
Texel, and have for him a kind personal feeling. But I could
neither restore nor renominate him. His state of mind is not
suitable for a new appointn^ent, and would disqualify him for
responsible active service. I advised him to consult his friends
whether it would be advisable for him to apply to Congress,
and told him I believed his best course would be to apply for
a pension. I had no doubt he would be entitled to one equal
to half-pay for life.
Clay, H., came with a Quaker named Barnes, of Barnesville,
Ohio, who brought several memorials, with numerous signa-
tures, requesting an alteration in the direction of the projected
continuation of the Cumberland Road. Barnes wishes it to
pass through the place of his residence, which bears his name,
and argued his cause with earnestness. He will see me again
to-morrow, and, in the mean time, call on the Secretary of War.
Mr. Clay came again, and expressed the wish to go next
week on his visit to Kentucky to bring his family here. I de-
sired him to have a commission made out for Philip C. Pendle-
ton as Judge of the western district of Virginia. I received
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a letter from R. King, mentioning that he had engaged a con-
ditional passage for England; to sail the ist of June. His
instructions for the present will be principally upon the slave
indemnity.
6th. Southard, S. N., with the proceedings of the Court of
Enquiry upon the first charge against Porter. He protests
against the competency of the Court, a majority of its members
being officers his juniors. Mr. Southard said Angus had gone
off this morning for New York. But last evening his deport-
ment at his lodgings had been so wild, and his menaces of
murder against Mr. Southard so marked, that Southard re-
ceived a warning to be upon his guard and keep him at a dis-
tance. He has repeatedly uttered similar threats, and at one
time Southard went armed for several days, to be prepared for
self-defence. He cannot in any manner be restored usefully to
the service.
Barbour, S. W. Claims of rank by Major Lomax and Cap-
tain Baker. The former considered as settled by the last Ad-
ministration. Lomax contends that the decision was illegal.
His argument is founded on a variation of phraseology in the
Acts of 18 1 5 and 1821. There is plausibility in his claim, but
perhaps nothing more. In Baker's case, Mr. Barbour thought
there was nothing to be done but to correct the Register's mis-
statement of the date of his commission.
I told Mr. Barbour I inclined to think that proposals should
be issued for the supplies of ordnance, without admitting the
exclusive pretensions of the three founderies from which all
the purchases have been made of late years.
Elgar, Commissioner of the Public Buildings, brought me a
letter requesting me to decide upon the designs which have
been presented for a bas-relief in the tympanum of the Capitol,
for which a pipemium of five hundred dollars was offered by
advertisement in the newspapers. I said I would in two or
three days call at the Capitol and see them.
Southard, S. N., again in the evening. Captain Porter,^ after
protesting against the Court of Enquiry as incompetent, and
withdrawing from it, this morning sent to Mr. Southard a
number of papers relating to his transactions at Foxardo, ap-
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542 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May,
parently with the intention that they should be laid before the
Court. Southard said Mr. Clay's opinion was that he ought to
return the papers to Porter, declining to receive them and lay
them before a Court before which Porter himself refused to
attend. Southard said his own impression had been to receive
and transmit them without comment to the Court.
My first sentiment coincided with that of Mr. Clay ; but, on
reflection, I thought it better to make no points with Captain
Porter not absolutely indispensable, and to give him every
possible advantage of trial.
There are also a number of papers received at the Depart-
ment of State from the Charge d'Affaires of Spain, Salmon,
translations of which Mr. Southard left with me, and is to call
again to-morrow morning.
7th. Cabinet meeting at two. Clay, Barbour, and Southard
present. Wirt absent at Baltimore. Barnes, and the continua-
tion of the Cumberland Road. Clay strongly averse to any
change. Several letters and remonstrances received against
Barnes's application. Congress of American Ministers at Pan-
ama. Question whether the United States will be represented
there. Clay and Barbour decidedly in favor of it. Southard
suggests objections, but acquiesces. Salazar and Obregon to
be answered that we accede generally to the proposal, but
think that the meeting cannot be held so early as next Oc-
tober. Time will be necessary for arranging and agreeing
upon the objects of negotiation and modes of proceeding.
Critical condition of the island of Cuba. Fisheries. A vessel
to be stationed for their protection on the coasts of Maine and
New Brunswick. A garrison also to be stationed in Maine to
preserve the timber on the contested territory from depredation.
Governor Barbour, Secretary of War, to write concerning it to
the Governor of Maine.
9th. Rode with John to the City Hall and Capitol, where I
inspected the designs for the tympanum of the Capitol ; none
of which were satisfactory or appeared to be deserving of the
premium offered. Mr. Elgar and Mr. Bulfinch proposed to
send them to my house ; to which I assented.
loth. Southard, S. N., brought the report of the Court of
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1825.] 7HE PRESIDENCY, 5^3
Enquiry upon the first of the two charges against Captain
Porter — the invasion of the island of Porto Rico at Foxardo.
The enquiry upon the second charge, a neglect of duty for the
transportation of specie, was instituted at the request of Cap-
tain Porter himself, and, he having withdrawn and protested
against the competency of the Court, they left it undecided
whether they were to pursue the enquiry upon the second
charge. Southard proposed to discharge them from the former
precept, but to send them another precept to assemble again at
the same time and place and enquire and report upon the
matter of the second charge.
I thought it would be better merely to direct the Court to
proceed to the enquiry concerning the second charge under the
original precept.
Graham, George, returned from his visit to Kentucky. I
asked him to send me from the Land Office a minute of all
the land-grants in blank, and hereafter a minute of the num-
bers in which they may be disposed of The practice of sign-
ing an indefinite number of all public documents, as patents,
land-grants, and commissions, has its inconveniences and dan-
gers. I must confine it within narrow limits, and require the
return to me of every blank signed by me and not issued.
Persico, the sculptor, brought to my house the design model
for the tympanum of the Capitol ; the other models and de-
signs were also brought and set up in the unfurnished long
room.
Barbour, S. W., came with the new volume of Army Regu-
lations, compiled by General Scott, and declared by Mr. Monroe
to be in force. He brought also the remonstrance of the
proprietor of the foundery in Virginia, in which Mr. Wirt is
concerned, against issuing a notice inviting a competition of
proposals for supplying ordnance. And Mason, General John,
came to plead the cause of his foundery at Georgetown, upon
the same argument, a pledge being alleged to have been given
by the Government to employ his foundery. Letters from
Mr. Monrcje, when Secretary of State, and from Commodore
Rodgers, as President of the Navy Board, are produced, prom-
ising employment for a time; but that has passed. Mason
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544 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [May.
Spoke also of the proceedings and suspension of the Slave In-
demnity Commission, being an agent for many of the claimants.
Clay, S. S., came with Mr. Bailey, the person who was sent
in February, 1815, immediately after the ratification of the
treaty of peace, to recover the slaves that were at Tangier
Island, but without success. He now lives in Washington
County, Maryland, and Mr. Clay sent for him that he might
give particular information respecting that transaction. Mr.
Clay left with me also a draft of instructions to H. Middleton,
directing him to urge upon the Russian Government their im-
mediate recognition of the South American Governments, and
their good offices to prevail upon Spain to make the same
recognition. The principal argument is derived from the criti-
cal condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, the high
interest that Spain has to retain the possession of them, which
would be entirely satisfactory to us, and the danger that she
may lose them if the war should continue much longer.
nth. Signed commissions to Richard Rush, as Secretary of
the Treasury, dated 7th March; Rufus King, Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, dated
5th May; John Alsop King, Secretary to the Legation to
Great Britain, dated 5th May. The commission for Mr. Rufus
King, sent me to sign, had omitted the limitation to the end
of the next session of the Senate. I sent for Mr. Brent, and
directed its insertion.
Clay, H., here, and proposed that copies of the instructions
to H. Middleton, concerning Spain and South America (to
which I agreed), should be furnished to Mr. R. King and Mr.
Brown, our Ministers at London and Paris. I fixed for to-
morrow, two o'clock, the Cabinet meeting on the report of the
Court of Enquiry in the case of Captain D. Porter.
1 2th. Cabinet meeting on report of the Court of Enquiry
upon the conduct of Captain Porter. Present, Clay, S. S., Bar-
bour, S. W., Southard, S. N. Absent, Wirt, A. G. It was
determined that Porter should be tried by a Court-martial for
the affair at Foxardo, against the opinion of Southard, who
thought the Executive should pass a direct censure upon him.
He was distrustful of the decision of naval officers upon the
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1825.] THE PRESIDENCY, 545
case; apprehensive that they would justify him, in the face of
the merits of the affair. I said I had not that distrust I be-
lieved they would do their duty, however unpleasant it might
be. They would themselves be under responsibility to their
oaths, to the country, and to the world. But, whatever their
sentence might be, the Executive will have done his duty.
The trial will have been according to the lays of the land, and
of nations. The accused will have had secured to him the
benefit of a trial by his peers, and all the advantages which the
law could secure to him.
Mr. Clay and Governor Barbour were both decidedly of the
same opinion.
Southard suggested the difficulty of forming a Court-martial,
especially with a majority of its members senior in commission
to Porter. There are but seven captains his seniors on the
list; and of these, Rodgers and Hull are absent; Stewart is
upon trial himself; Chauncey sat on the Court of Enquirv ;
Bainbridge has expressed an unfavorable opinion of the trans-
action, and is thus disqualified to sit; and there are grave
exceptions against both Barron and Tingey. Still, a Court-
martial must be preferred to either of the other alternatives, of
receiving the report of the Court of Enquiry, taking no other
step, or of passing censure, by a mere arbitrary Executive act
The Court-martial, however, is not to be instituted till the
Court of Enquiry shall have reported upon the second charge,
of which Southard said he had no doubt that Porter would be
honorably acquitted, and that the result would redound to the
credit of the navy.
1 3th. Mr. Clay took leave, and departs to-morrow upon his
tour home, to fetch his family. He asked me how long I
would give him permission of absence. I told him at his own
discretion ; being sure that he would not lengthen it without
necessity, and understanding, of course, that in case of any
sudden emergency requiring his presence here we could give
him timely notice of it
He said he expected to return with his family about the
middle of July. He had sent me a letter to him from W.
VOL. VI. — 35
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546 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [May,
Brent, member of the House from Louisiana, strongly urging
the removal of Sterret, the Naval Officer at New Orleans, as
a noisy and clamorous reviler of the Administration, who was
concerned in a project of some worthless persons like him-
self to insult Brent when he passed though New Orleans, at
the theatre, for his own vote at the election; which project,
however, failed. And Brent's letter says that a vast majority
of the people of Louisiana are entirely satisfied with the
election. Mr. Clay also urged the removal of Sterret, and
observed that with regard to the conduct of persons holding
offices at the pleasure of the President, the course of the
Administration should be to avoid, on the one hand, political
persecution, and, on the other, an appearance of pusillanimity ;
that so long as the election was pending, every man was free
to indulge his preference for any of the candidates ; but after
it was decided, no officer depending upon the will of the
President for his place should be permitted to hold a conduct
in open and continual disparagement of the Administration
and its head.
I said these principles were undoubtedly correct, but there
was some difficulty and great delicacy in the application of
them to individuals. If the charge could be specifically
brought home to Sterret, of having concerted or countenanced
a purpose of public insult to a member of Congress for the
honest and independent discharge of his duty, I would not
hesitate to remove such a blackguard, as unworthy of holding
any public trust whatever. But Mr. Brent only mentions this
as a design of Sterret's, never carried into execution. And
as a design, it could scarcely be susceptible of proof. Should
I remove Sterret by a mere Executive fiat, he would consider
himself injured, and immediately demand the cause of his
removal. To answer merely that it was the pleasure of the
President, would be harsh and odious — inconsistent with the
principle upon which I have commenced the Administration,
of removing no person from office but for cause ; and would
lead to the inference that I was ashamed to assign the real
cause. That real cause, an intention never carried into effect,
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1825.] THE PRESIDENCY, 5^7
would scarcely justify the removal of a man from office, in the
public opinion. It would be thought to indicate an irritable,
hasty, and vindictive temper, and give rise to newspaper dis-
cussions, of which all the disadvantage would fall upon the
Administration. Besides, should I remove this man for this
cause, it must be upon some fixed principle, which would
apply to others as well as to him. And where was it possible
to draw the line ? Of the custom-house officers throughout the
Union, four-fifths, in all probability, were opposed to my elec-
tion. They were now all in my power, and I had been urged
very earnestly, and from various quarters, to sweep away my
opponents and provide with their places for my friends. I can
justify the refusal to adopt this policy only by the steadiness
and consistency of my adhesion to my own. If I depart from
this in one instance, I shall be called upon by my friends to do
the same in many. An invidious and inquisitorial scrutiny
into the personal dispositions of public officers will creep
through the whole Union, and the most selfish and sordid
passions will be kindled into activity to distort the conduct
and misrepresent the feelings of men whose places may become
the prize of slander upon them.
Mr. Clay did not press the subject any further.
14th. The Court of Enquiry upon Captain Porter is still
sitting, and Mr. Southard again expressed his belief that with
regard to the transportation of specie, Porter's conduct would
be fully justified.
Mr. Barbour had intelligence from his father, who is con-
valescent. He spoke of a Mexican expedition against Cuba ;
then of the very critical state of affairs between the State of
Georgia and the Creek Indians ; brought me a letter from the
Agent, Crowell, of 27th April, complaining of the Governor of
Georgia.
Mr. Barbour said he would make a report upon the question
of rank between Generals Gaines and Scott. The correspond-
ence between those officers was extremely acrimonious. Mr.
Barbour's opinion coincides with that of General Brown ; de-
cisively in favor of Gaines. The question ought to have been
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5^8 MEMOIRS OF yOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [1825.
decided by the last Administration, but it was evaded by Mr.
Calhoun, on the pretence that it was merely an abstract ques-
tion ! Scott, however, produced a private letter from Calhoun
to him, written when it was expected that the command of the
army would be vacated by the decease of General Brown, and
promising it in that event to Scott.
I renewed the attempt to journalize morning and evening.
END OF VOL. VI.
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